Autobiography of Red

Written by Anne Carson

Narrated by Paul Boehmer

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: May 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781515976844

Anne Carson

Anne Carson is a Canadian poet, essayist, translator, classicist, and professor. She has taught classics, comparative literature, and creative writing at universities across the United States and Canada, including McGill, Michigan, NYU, and Princeton. With more than twenty books of writings and translations published to date, Carson was awarded Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships, has won the Lannan Literary Award, two Griffin Poetry Prizes, the T. S. Eliot Prize, the Princess of Asturias Award, the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry, and the PEN/Nabokov Award, and was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2005 for her contribution to Canadian letters. Author photo by Peter Smith

Reviews for Autobiography of Red

[asakomorebi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely incredible!
This was my first time reading one of Anne Carson's works (and will definitely not be the last!), I didn't know what to expect and fell in love with this book and with Geryon! The story was amazing and narration was superb!

[Rosemary Banks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Acquired taste & required academic knowledge is a prerequisite. Passionless.

[JL Andrews · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting novel. Will read more Anne Carson. Good narration. Terrible editing of the audio.

[Suswati Basu · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[vive_livre · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I admire the ambition of this novel. Carson does not make it easy, but a challenge is good.
I am not going to pretend that I understood all of it, with its packed allusions. The gender fluidity and sexual ambiguity made it seem slightly more contemporary than it's 1998 publishing date would suggest. Yet, it had enough humor in it to keep it from falling into pretension.

[evelynnygren · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was an expertly crafted blend of lyrical prose and poem-like sequences. I enjoyed reading about Geryon; he was such a sweet—yet abstract—character. I was enraptured by the way he thought and how he viewed the world around him. I also enjoyed Herakles' character at the beginning of the story, but not so much towards the middle and end as he turned into a more aloof and insensitive person, unlike his new friend, Ancash. I had no idea that this book was a retelling of a myth that I'd never heard of before, but I'm glad that Anne Carson wrote it in this new, strange style. I look forward to reading more of her work in the future!

[niaomiya · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was unlike anything I'd ever read before. It is a story told in freeform verse and prose. Based on the Greek myth of Geryon but taking place before his involvement in the twelve labors of Herakles, "Autobiography of Red" is a coming-of-age story. Geryon is a teenaged boy, a winged red monster whose emotions sometimes overwhelm him and who struggles to find his identity. Although told in the third person, the book is Geryon's story - his story of growing up with an abusive older brother and loving but useless mother; of falling in love with Herakles, whose emotions don't run anywhere as deeply as Geryon's and who cavalierly breaks his heart; of finding ways to express himself as a photographer; of accidentally reconnecting with Herakles many years later and having to face unresolved feelings.

The book is at times ethereal in its beauty, at times raw and unapologetic. It brought out in me a mishmash of emotions: love, sympathy, pity, anger, discomfort. I had never read Anne Carson before, but I am now very much intrigued and would love to read her poetry.

[varielle_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

There are few reviewers who find any flaws in what they deem a work of genius. The author has taken scraps of a classical story and endeavored to wordsmith it into a verse novel. I found it strained and distasteful and have thrown it across the room. It’s going to the free little library for some other unfortunate souls to stumble upon.

[drbrand-271246 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is intimidating to write anything about Autobiography of Red. Anne Carson’s verse is both formidable and abundant in style, and her story is complexly layered. Emotion and understanding erupt in moments of intense convergence. She creates a narrative that is distant, yet somehow intuitive and sympathetic--a Bildungsroman of one misunderstood, red and winged. It is a perplexing book in some ways, akin to reading reading a journal from another time or a document that has been redacted--occasionally incomprehensible, but deeply intriguing. Carson can intimate so many things in her writing, and much of her writing has the feeling of revelation, ancient gnostic arcana, and deep allegorical truth. Highly recommended.

[barrettlucero · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful. A joy of language and longing. You should read it.

[snash_44 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What is it? A retelling of a Greek myth but so much more; a novel, a poem, a story of human emotion, a philosophical contemplation of time, a collection of dazzlingly perfect word images, and more.

[kraysaulis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[thealternativeone · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Poetry
6 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…

[g0ldenboy_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Despite the innovative format, I expected more profound writing. Short, sensitive, heartwarming.

[yarkan_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[plenilune · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[bitterfierce · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[ignorantleafy_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[dawnpen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.