In her novel-in-verse, Autobiography of Red, why has Anne Carson harnessed creatures from Ancient Greece to tell a story of adolescent love in modern Canada?
A careful reader may have noticed that none of the books we're using in this series is set in the present moment. Even Ultima Thule in which Davis McCombs introduces a second, contemporary speaker late in the book, he still uses a speaker from the mid-nineteenth century for the main narrative.
By contrast, Anne Carson's Autobiography of Red uses Geryon and Herakles as a romantic pair of teenagers in contemporary Canada. Here is a bit of the backstory: Young Geryon discovers his older brother masturbating in the bunk below:
Why do you pull on your stick?
Geryon asked. None of your business let's see yours, said his brother.
No.
Bet you don't have one. Geryon checked. Yes I do.
You're so ugly I bet it fell off.
Geryon remained silent. He knew the difference between facts and brother hatred.(1)
Several questions come to mind.
- Why has Anne Carson taken on creatures with such gravitas, and then let their story unfold through the most mundane events?
- Has Carson wasted the archetypal potential of these Greek mythological characters?
- Using the guise of a red chthonic creature with wings, is Carson writing about her own life?
Perhaps the last question should be, "how does using the guise of a winged red creature help Carson write about the life she knows?" We will discuss a poet's way of knowing in a following article, but for now let's focus on how Carson's story is shaded by the use of Geryon. Many have argued that this technique only appropriates gravitas otherwise unearned by actors who, in this case, spend a good deal of time squabbling and necking in cafés.
Another interpretation, however, is that Carson is making creative use of a template. By employing characters we already know, she is free to tell her story without the clutter of lengthy dissertations on Eros and Thanatos and the seductiveness of beautiful destroyers. Upon this prepared emotional field, Carson is free to overlay a nuanced narrative about gay youth, the explorations of love, relationships with eccentric but loving parents, and the symbiotic nature of art in life.
Exercise: Think about your most recent poem. Consider what historical or mythological figure might represent the speaker and others in the poem. If you make these substitutions, how does your poem feel/mean something different?
1. Carson, Anne. Autobiography of Red. Vintage Books: New York. 1998. p.27.
