Title: Autobiography of red
First published: 1998
Description: A novel in verse on a homosexual romance between two boys. Geryon "understood / that people need / acts of attention from one another, does it really matter which acts? / He was fourteen. / 'Sex is a way of getting to know someone, ' / Herakles had said. He was sixteen." 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 color red, and the fantastic accident of who he is.

Anne Carson bridges the gap between classicism and the modern, poetry and prose, with a volcanic journey into the soul of a winged red monster named Geryon.

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 color red, and the fantastic accident of who he is.
Subjects: Adaptations, Epic poetry, Greek, Greek Epic poetry, Heracles (Greek mythology), Monsters, Mythology, Poetry, New York Times reviewed, Poetry (poetic works by one author), Gēryonēis (Stesichorus)
People: Stesichorus
LC classification: PS3553.A7667 A94 1998