When considering examples of contemporary literature that embody subliminal philosophy, no greater example comes to mind that John Gardner's Grendel. Nearly every instance of modern philosophy, from solipsism to nihilism, is exemplified in the work. The most prevalent of these, however, is Existentialism. To understand this, one must first understand the basic concepts of Existentialist theory. There are five basic ideas on which the existential theory is founded. In their essence, they are as follows: "…showed first 75 words of 1018 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1018 total…excellent array of modern philosophies within his novel Grendel, however, none quite so exquisitely and precisely as that of Existentialism. Works Cited Carrol, Robert Todd, Empiricism, September 12, 2003, <http://skepdic.com/empiricism.html> Gardner, John, Grendel, Vintage Books Ed., April 1989 Stromme, Craig J., The twelve chapters of Grendel, September 12, 2003, <http://home1.gte.net/tomchat/12chap.html> Wyatt, Christopher Scott, Existentialism ; A Primer, September 12, 2003, <http://www.tameri.com/csw/exist,html>