His wingsĪre not merely psychological (when Geryon first goes to school, his Slain by Herakles in the hero's tenth labor), has a completely redīody, with red wings growing from his back like the monster. Geryon, who from childhoodĬonsciously identifies with the Geryon of Greek mythology (a monster

Manner of Latin American magical realism. Mythic dimension to the story, which is included in the matter-of-fact Realistic contemporary detailsĮstablish the time as the late twentieth century. Mother an inattentive athletic father and an oppressive older brother.

Precocious boy who has a charming and affectionate but ineffectual Still, IĪpproached Autobiography of Red with high hopes.Ĭarson's 'novel in verse' tells the story of Geryonįrom boyhood to age twenty-two. Were tentative and fuzzy the passionate cogency of 'The GlassĮssay' seemed to appear only in scattered passages. It made me wonder if the best living poet in EnglishĬould turn out to be a Canadian Professor of Classics.īut then I found my reactions to other poetry and prose by Carson 'Confessional' - I feel 'The Glass Essay' stands up Whitman's 'Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking,' Poems - Wordsworth's 'Resolution and Independence,' The effect calls to mind some great mid-length In a rare way it's a combination you suddenly realize you're The poem combines intelligence and passion The woman tries to understand her despair, and to imagineĪ livable response to it, by contemplating the mysteriously heroic Thirty-eight-page poem narrated by a woman devastated by the collapse ofĪ love affair.

'The Glass Essay' (in Glass, Irony and God, 1995), a The first thing I read by Anne Carson blew me away. APA style: Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse.Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse.' Retrieved from MLA style: 'Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse.' The Free Library.

Autobiography of red