Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red overleaps generic boundaries, interweaving academic criticism, excerpts of primary sources, translation, interviews, poetry and prose. It begins with a section titled “What Difference Did Stesichoros Make?” in which Carson discusses the influence of ancient Greek lyric poet Stesichoros. Weaving in quotes by 20th century Modernist writer Gertrude Stein, Carson sketches a brief biography of Stesichoros and his influence on contemporary lyric poetry. She hones in on Stesichoros’ Geryoneis, which tells the story of Herakles and Geryon from Geryon’s point of view, upon which Autobiography of Red is loosely based. She invites readers to consider the question: “What difference did Stesichoros make?”
The next section, “Red Meat: Fragments of Stesichoros,” is written in verse and is ostensibly Carson’s translations of fragments of Stesichoros’ Geryoneis. Carson describes Geryon as “a monster”; “everything about him was red,” including his red wings, red cattle, and red dog. This section, like much of the novel, intermixes contemporary and classical references, juxtaposing the gods Zeus and Athena with modern technology like the “coil of the hot plate.” The fragments offer a collection of scattered moments in chronological order of Geryon’s brief life, from Geryon’s early memories to his first day at school to his premature death at Herakles’s hands.
The next three sections are Appendixes A-C. The first Appendix contains three entries from different ancient texts, each of which address the question of Stesichoros’ blinding by Helen for blaspheming her. Appendix B is a three-sentence renunciation of Stesichoros’ blasphemy of Helen in which he admits that it wasn’t a true story. Appendix C is a is a list of 21 equivocal either/or statements, beginning with the premise, “Either Stesichoros was a blind man or he was not.” Each successive statement leads to further specificity of irresolvable possibilities, eventually returning to the starting point of considering whether or not Stesichoros was a blind man, and introducing the possibility that even if he was a blind man, “we will lie or if not not.”
The verse novel “Autobiography of Red: A Romance” begins with an epigraph of Poem #1748 by Emily Dickinson, which references a “reticent volcano” that refuses to disclose the secret of its immortality to humankind. The first chapters take place in Geryon’s early childhood. He is shown to be an anxious, sensitive, empathic child. It is revealed that he is sexually abused by his older brother, with whom he shares a bedroom. He loves his mother, and is close with her, but she fails to protect him from his brother.
Geryon is a creative child, and as his brother’s abuse robs him of agency, he tries to regain control over his own narrative through crafting his autobiography. He makes a sculptural self-portrait, and then starts writing his own autobiography, which echoes the mythological story of his short life and death at the hands of Herakles. At the age of 14, Geryon meets Herakles, who is 16, in the middle of the night at a bus stop. The attraction is immediate, and soon they begin to spend all of their time together. Geryon spends less and less time at home, distancing himself from his mother and brother. Geryon’s mother grows concerned by his relationship with Herakles and his absence, but is unable to breach the gap between them. Geryon runs away from home to stay with Herakles’ family in Hades, where they live at the base of an active volcano.
Herakles and Geryon begin living with Herakles’ mother and grandmother. His grandmother is an eccentric old woman, full of stories. She tells them about her life, including the last time the volcano erupted and the photograph she took of the eruption. Weeks pass. Geryon and Herakles begin having sex. They go around Hades at night spray-painting messages and art onto buildings. Geryon’s wings begin to hurt, and he binds them to a wooden plank, hidden beneath his jacket. Geryon starts an autobiographical photo series. Their relationship has its daily ups and downs, and their communication breaks down. Several weeks into living together, after Geryon’s mother angrily calls him and berates him for leaving home, Herakles suggests that Geryon return to his family, intimating that they should break up.
Before Herakles and Geryon separate, Herakles’ grandmother drives them to the top of the volcano, and Geryon finds the flowing lava both beautiful and frightening. They have one final argument about photography, and then Geryon leaves Hades, returning home to his family. He confronts his mother about their empty fruit bowl in lieu of expressing his anger at his mother’s years of benign neglect. Heartbroken in the weeks that follow, Geryon falls into a state of numb depression. He gets a job at a library, and continues his photography.
The narrative jumps forward a number of years. Now 22, Geryon flies down to Buenos Aries, Argentina. It is revealed that Geryon’s brother now works as a radio sportscaster, and that Geryon is studying German philosophy in college. In Buenos Aires, Geryon spends long hours writing cryptic postcards at Cafe Mitwelt and wanders the streets at night, feeling emotionally unfulfilled. He meets an American philosopher at a café and attends his lecture on skepticism. At dinner with a bunch of philosophers after the conference, Geryon has a fleeting moment of happiness and belonging. Yet he still suffers from loneliness, and, sleepless one night, stumbles upon the last authentic tango bar in Buenos Aires, where he has a startling conversation with a tango singer about psychology. Searching for answers, he turns to philosophy and self-help books.
In a bookstore, he bumps into Herakles, who is traveling around South America filming volcanoes for a documentary on Emily Dickinson with his boyfriend Ancash. They begin spending time together, and Geryon discovers that he feels a quiet affinity for Ancash, while feeling both attracted to and distant from Herakles. After Herakles steals a painted tiger from a carousel in a department store, all three of them fly together to Peru.
On the plane, Geryon and Herakles become intimate again. The three men stay with Ancash’s mother in Lima, Peru. Geryon finds winter in Lima to be cold and miserable, and wonders why he's there at all. Ancash discovers Geryon’s wings, and tells Geryon of a legendary people in Peru, the Yazcamac, who were immortal red people with wings that returned from being thrown into the inside of volcanoes. Ancash’s mother drives the three men to a volcano near her hometown. Geryon takes a series of photographs along their journey. Herakles and Geryon have sex, and Geryon realizes that he no longer loves Herakles, or even feels like he knows him anymore. Ancash punches Geryon in the face, but afterwards the two men share a frank conversation. Ancash encourages Geryon to finally use his wings. As a gift to Ancash, and reveling in his newfound self-acceptance and freedom, Geryon flies above the volcano. The story ends as Geryon, Ancash, and Herakles watch a group of men baking bread in ovens carved out of the side of the volcano. Geryon decides that people are “amazing” for being “neighbors of fire.”
The book concludes with a short, fictional interview with Stesichoros, which playfully sabotages narrative certainty in favor of questioning and wondering.
