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Autobiography of Red
Summary
The award-winning poet Anne Carson reinvents a genre in Autobiography of Red, a stunning work that is both a novel and a poem, both an unconventional recreation of an ancient Greek myth and a wholly original coming-of-age story set in the present.
Geryon, a young boy who is also a winged red monster, reveals the volcanic terrain of his fragile, tormented soul in an autobiography he begins at the age of five. As he grows older, Geryon escapes his abusive brother and affectionate but ineffectual mother, finding solace behind the lens of his camera and in the arms of a young man named Herakles, a cavalier drifter who leaves him at the peak of infatuation. When Herakles reappears years later, Geryon confronts again the pain of his desire and embarks on a journey that will unleash his creative imagination to its fullest extent. By turns whimsical and haunting, erudite and accessible, richly layered and deceptively simple, Autobiography of Red is a profoundly moving portrait of an artist coming to terms with the fantastic accident of who he is.
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Reviews
A thoroughly original and imaginative modern re-telling of myth, both heart-rending love story and dynamic coming of age. Geryon is our classically flawed protagonist, both sympathetic and maddening: moody artist, vulnerable teenager, and monstrous in a way both inviting and distancing. Herakles is his first love, and first real lover, a flighty heartbreaker, a wanderer and wonderer and vagabond. Over the course of their travels, Geryon pursues, seeking to be loved and pondering why he isn't, not in the way he yearns to be; and we, the readers, can't help but be swept up in the adventure, and in his journey and struggle.
I am Anne Carson's overblown novel a' la verse Autobiography in Red. While I am not as good as everything else; I'm neat in the sense of having a lot of pockets to put things but I'm okay, so don't not read me but don't go thinking I'm the end of the end. I'm a hug and a kiss and sort of a Queerbot.
So good you can hardly bear it. Yes, it's literature, because it's so well done, but it's also funny and strange and vivid and smart and wise. It's in verse, but in no way is it obnoxious.This is a modern adaptation of the story of Heracles and Geryon, the red dragon. They are lovers. And yet it is not a story of homosexuality, it is a story of love--no politics. People who do not like this book are not my people.
Rarely do I finish a book and turn right back to the first page again. But that is exactly what I did. Because at the last line I was handed a revelation which I needed to further explore. One I still don't understand. This book carries an ambiguity that is equal parts comforting and disconcerting. I can not review or explain it. You just have to experience it.
I also rarely finish books and know exactly how many "stars" the book deserves. I will be honest and say I am not sure four is the right number here.
I also rarely finish books and know exactly how many "stars" the book deserves. I will be honest and say I am not sure four is the right number here.
Mythology and modern love intertwine gracefully in this shockingly gorgeous story. Carson captures the ontology of love and all its facets with wrenching accuracy. Her spare poetry pulls the reader into Geryon's senses with a deftness that gives his world the immediacy of a lucid dream. A reflection on passion, loneliness, and the sustaining power of art, Autobiography of Red is as sensual as it is elevating.
Despite the innovative format, I expected more profound writing. Short, sensitive, heartwarming.
Anne Carson is definitely among the class of rare poets, seen in this work which takes you on a journey through the medium of words. That being said, I was hoping for something a little more in time with the classical world it invokes. Despite the characters being called Geryon and Herakles, they have little in common with their mythical namesake.
Carson leaves most traces of classicism behind. That isn't necessarily bad, but it begs the question of why she uses these myths in the first place. Nevertheless, the poetry is solid and evocative, so read it without the mythologies in mind.
Carson leaves most traces of classicism behind. That isn't necessarily bad, but it begs the question of why she uses these myths in the first place. Nevertheless, the poetry is solid and evocative, so read it without the mythologies in mind.
I've never read anything like this. It was described as a verse novel. A modern story, yet using characters from Greek myth, Herakles and Geryon, a red, winged creature. It was relatively thin book, but thick with content. I read each section twice and thought some more. The whole story is metaphorical about something. Identity, love, isolation. I'm not sure what exactly. But some searing emotional images. I wonder if the Brokeback Mountain person read this. And some scenes from Peru reminded me of our trip there. Seeing soccer on the beach, Inca Kola, a roasted guinea pig.
Poetry6 Stars Autobiography of Red is the very best in narrative prose and retells the story of Geryon and Herakles told in modern vernacular. What a wonderfully full voice Anne Carson possesses. She manages to fill a classical story with poetry, prose, narration, fable, emotion, love, desire, loss, and every one of the myriad of human emotions into a single touching account. This is one story that will stick with you forever…