Autobiography of Red: A Novel in VerseThe award-winning poet reinvents a genre in a stunning work that is both a novel and a poem, both an unconventional re-creation 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. A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist "Anne Carson is, for me, the most exciting poet writing in English today." --Michael Ondaatje "This book is amazing--I haven't discovered any writing in years so marvelously disturbing." --Alice Munro "A profound love story . . . sensuous and funny, poignant, musical and tender." --The New York Times Book Review "A deeply odd and immensely engaging book. . . . [Carson] exposes with passionate force the mythic underlying the explosive everyday." --The Village Voice |
Contents
WHAT DIFFERENCE DID STESICHOROS MAKE? | 3 |
FRAGMENTS OF STESICHOROS | 9 |
APPENDIX A | 15 |
Copyright | |
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Aeroperu Ancash Ancash's mother ANNE CARSON Argentina arms asked Geryon AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF RED baby-sitter banana began beside blank blanket blind Buenos Aires burned called camera CHOROS cigarette climbed cold cupi checa dark door dream Emily Dickinson eyes face floor fragments front fruit bowl garotte Gertrude Stein Geryon felt Geryon paused Geryon sat Geryon walked Geryon watched Geryon's brother grandmother grinned hand hard Harrods head Helen Herakles Huaraz Icchantikas Inca Kola inside jacket Jucu kitchen knees ladder lava Lazer leaned light Lima listening little red looked morning mouth moved night Okay overcoat past photograph PING PING PING plate porch pulling Quechua question roof rose seawall side silence sitting sleep smell smiled sound stared Stesichoros stood Tango tell thought Geryon turned voice volcano waiting wall window wings word yellowbeard