• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Kazoo Books

Excite your Mind

Quality Used & New Books
Kazoo Books · 2413 Parkview Ave. · (269) 553-6506
Hours: Monday thru Saturday 9 AM-6 PM
Closed Sunday
  • Home
  • About
    • Our Staff
    • Parking
    • Marketing & Publicity
  • Trade In Books
  • Shop
    • My Cart
  • Audiobooks
  • Meeting Here
    • Book & Writer’s Groups
    • Reserving Space
  • Events
    • Past Events
  • Distribution
  • Contact Us

Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson

April 15, 2015 by KB Staff

Verse Novel / Poetry / Fantasy / Romance
Pub. 1998 by Vintage

Reviewed by Kaili, 4/23/15

RedCarson’s Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse, first published in 1998, scooped me up during a poetry class at WMU several years ago. (If you are unfamiliar with the genre: a verse novel combines narrative, poetry, and drama. Similar to a lyrical essay, but fiction rather than non-fiction).

Works so heavy on mythology rarely pull me in, but I was (am!) absolutely taken with Autobiography of Red. It is the first of two verse novels following the character Geryon, a boy with red skin and wings, roughly based on the Greek myth of Geryon and Herakles (Hercules). I approached Red with little knowledge of the mythology, but Carson provides context in a short introduction.

Autobiography of Red, as I see it, is a bildungsroman and a romance for the underrepresented.  We travel with Geryon through layers of boyhood, abuse, shame, an obsessive love with the adventure-seeking Herakles, heartbreak, and photographs–covering, with emotional immediacy, an expanse of experiences rarely given reverent light of day. Geryon’s relationship with another man, for example, is written to stand for all human desire–homosexuality is presented within such an individual context (as opposed to a social context) that it becomes a neutral experience–an incredibly underrepresented reality. Red has marvelous rhythm, both in regard to the verse and to the structure and sequence of events. The silence between words is just as provocative as the words themselves, and the intellectual questions posed within Geryon’s story left me thinking.

If you appreciate a puzzle and consider ambiguity a force, rather than a frustration, I highly recommend Autobiography of Red. As for the “verse” part: critic Sam Anderson says, “‘Red’ has become known as one of the crossover classics of contemporary poetry: poetry that can seduce even people who don’t like poetry.” Carson’s familiar themes, albeit within uncommon context, won’t escape you.

Sequel: Red Doc> (2013).

Filed Under: Kaili, Reviews

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Looking for a particular title?

We have over 40,000 new and used books. Call or email today. On a mobile phone? Call here.

Parking & Entrance

We're now using our back entrance and parking lot exclusively! Turn onto Barnard Ave at Parkview, and then left at Book Alley, which runs behind the building and is marked with a street sign.

Popular Links

Kazoo Books on Bookshop.org ATYP AP English Winter 2022 Search our online inventory of rare & antiquarian books.

Gift Cards Available

Gift Card!
Parts Work and Inner Active Cards
Parts Work Inner Active Cards for Parts Work

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Upcoming Events

There are no upcoming events.

Kazoo Books is a UPS Access Point

Footer

About us

Kazoo Books is Kalamazoo’s independent, locally-owned bookstore offering a wide selection of new and quality used books and book ordering services. We have been serving the greater Kalamazoo area since 1988.

Affiliations

indielogo buylocal logo GLIBA logo aba logo
© 2014-2022 Kazoo Books

Copyright © 2022 · Kazoo Books on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in