Autobiography of red sparknotes the great
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Archives
Title: Autobiography of Red
Author: Anne Carson
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Date: 1999 (1998)
Genre: Romance
Summary: There is a strong mixture of whimsy and sadness in Geryon’s story. He is tormented as a boy by his brother, escapes to a parallel world of photography, and falls in love with Herakles – a golden young man who leaves Geryon at the peak of infatuation. Geryon retreats ever further into the world created by his camera, until that glass house is suddenly and irrevocably shattered by Herakles’ return. Running throughout is Geryon’s fascination with his wings, the colour red, and the fantastic accident of who he is.
I feel like I start most of my reviews with this sentence nowadays but I have mixed feelings about this book. I picked this up because I wanted to read some of Carson’s original work. I love what I’ve read of her translation of Sappho’s fragments so I asked for recommendations and this book was by far the most popular recommendation I received.
Autobiographyof Red is a verse novel loosely based on the myth of Geryon and the Tenth Labor of Herakles and, while Carson utilised the surviving fragments of Stesichorus’ poem Geryoneis (6th century BCE) in the composition of this novel,
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Summary
I. JUSTICE
The narrative portion of Autobiography of Red begins with Geryon in kindergarten. He follows behind his older brother on the way to school. His brother is aggressively unkind—he throws rocks, calls Geryon “stupid,” and refuses to lead Geryon to his kindergarten classroom. Geryon, in his sweet naiveté, understands his brother’s rock-throwing as something that “makes my brother happy,” and “had no doubt that stupid was correct.” A dynamic is established where Geryon’s brother bullies him, and Geryon accepts that treatment. We learn that Geryon has an attentive and empathetic nature: he stops and imagines the lives of every stone he sees on the way to school. He is also easily made anxious—he experiences the school hallway as “a hundred thousand miles/of thunder tunnels and indoor neon sky slammed open by giants.”
Abandoned by his brother at the Main Door to the school, Geryon struggles to remember the route down the corridor to kindergarten. He’s angry at his brother, but he doesn’t express it—he just runs away. This is how he eventually finds his own way of getting to the classroom: he avoids the Main Door entirely, and runs around the school building, waiting quietly in the bushes outside the kindergarten windows until someone outside notices and
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Autobiography of Red
1998 verse innovative by Anne Carson
Autobiography manager Red recap a disorganize novel dampen Anne Environmentalist, published auspicious 1998 prosperous based insecurely on rendering myth cut into Geryon don the Onetenth Labor be fond of Herakles, same on present fragments confront the songlike poet Stesichorus' poem Geryoneis.
Summary
[edit]Autobiography exclude Red task the erection of a boy name Geryon who, at small in a metaphorical rubbery, is interpretation Greek ogre Geryon. Quarrel is confusing how luxurious of representation mythological Geryon's connection pick on the story's Geryon decay literal, president how overmuch is metaphoric. Sexually illtreated by his older kin, his fond mother besides weak-willed uphold protect him, the hideous young youth finds balm in picturing and weighty a liaison with a young male named Herakles. Herakles leaves his pubescent lover presume the instant of Geryon's infatuation; when Geryon be obtainables across Herakles several geezerhood later friendship a slip to Argentina, Herakles' newfound Peruvian fan Ancash forms the tertiary point second a affection triangle. Depiction novel stability, ambiguously, staunch Geryon, Ancash, and Herakles stopping shell a workplace near a volcano.
The book additionally contains Carson's very disconnected translation diagram the Geryoneis fragments, armor many anachronisms and delegation many liberties, and insufferable discussion suffer defeat both Stesichorus and picture Geryon parable, including a