Red Wings

By Jacob O.

Anne Carson, an award-winning Canadian poet, has created something unique. I haven't seen its like anywhere else, despite the seventeen years wherein it could have been imitated. Carson calls Autobiography of Red "a novel in verse." Chapters last a few pages and can be treated as separate poems. Especially in the first half, these verses feel disconnected, serving to suggest the protagonist's childhood rather than spell it out. The book picks up more narrative continuity in the second half.

The story is a modern-day retelling of Stesichorus' incomplete myth of Geryon and Herakles, in which Herakles kills the monster Geryon and his cattle. Only short fragments of the myth have been found, and Carson has taken some artistic license in her reinterpretation. It follows Geryon--a boy who just happens to be a red-skinned, winged monster--through childhood and young adulthood. I'm almost certain it is a love story. It focuses on Geryon's relationship with Herakles: his off-again, on-again lover. Carson has taken much artistic license with her reinterpretation.

Geryon is an artist. Specifically, he is a photographer. He tries to understand the world around him through imagery and photographs, but his world and his mind never seem to make a good connection. His world appears to be similar to ours, but Geryon doesn't quite fit into it. The novel is in third-person limited perspective, so the poetry represents Geryon's interpretation of events. As a result, it feels alien in its logic and in its framework.

The strange origin of the ideas makes Autobiography of Red difficult to understand at all times. Once I get adjusted, though, I find myself questioning my normal version of reality. I wouldn't suggest this book for people who already suffer from dissociative episodes. The plot focuses on emotions over action. For example, at the climax, very little changes in the external circumstances of the characters; the only major change is in Geryon's emotional landscape. If that's not your thing, you won't enjoy this book.

Anne Carson has written numerous poems and even a sequel to Autobiography of Red called Red Doc>. Personally, I will avoid Carson's work until I'm sure I can remember who I am.

Autobiography of Red, by Anne Carson, Vintage Contemporaries, 1998, 149 pages