Red Doc> is a book by classicist and poet Anne Carson, which combines poetry, prose, and drama. Published in 2013, it resumes the story of her 1998 verse novel Autobiography of Red.
 First edition | |
| Author | Anne Carson |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
Publication date | 2013 |
| Awards | Griffin Poetry Prize |
| Preceded by | Autobiography of Red |
The characters of both poems are modern re-imaginings of the Greek mythological figures Geryon and Herakles, as described in Stesichoros' poem Geryoneis. Stesichoros' poem retells the tenth labour of Herakles, in which Herakles kills the monster Geryon, a winged red being, in order to steal his cattle. In Autobiography of Red, Geryon was a teenage boy, artistic and gay, in love with the popular and charming Herakles. Red Doc> resumes their story as adults. Geryon is now known as G, and Herakles is referred to in the poem as Sad But Great after his return from war with PTSD. G and Sad go on a road trip with an artist named Ida to make their way to visit G's dying mother.[1]
Red Doc> was reviewed by Katryn Schulz as "greater than... the sum of its parts," successfully bringing together disparate elements:
- This is Carson's obsession, and her gift: to make meaning from the fragments we get, which are also all we get – of time, of the past, of each other. It doesn't last, of course; the arrow of gravity, like the arrow of time, points only in one direction. Still, for a moment, she gets it all to hang together up there, the joy made keener by the coming fall. Sad but great: In the end it seemed to me that Carson had found the proper name for everything – her character, this book, this life.[2]
Red Doc> was awarded the 2014 Griffin Poetry Prize.[3]
References
edit- ^ "Red Doc> by Anne Carson – review". 2013-08-16. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
- ^ Schulz, Katryn (2013). Red Shift. New York magazine, 11 March 2013, pp 117–121.
- ^ The Canadian Press. "$65K Griffin Poetry Prize crowns Toronto's Anne Carson". CBC.
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