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Interviews | October 6, 2009

Jill Owens: IMG The Powells.com Interview with Margaret Atwood



margaretatwoodIn her 2003 novel Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood describes a future after humanity had been almost entirely wiped out by a plague. Jimmy, aka Snowman, lives... Continue »
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5 Hawthorne Poetry- A to Z

Other titles in the Vintage Contemporaries series:

  1. A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You: Stories
  2. A Brief History of the Flood
  3. A Closed Eye
  4. A Cure for Dreams
  5. A Far Country
  6. A Handbook to Luck
  7. A Lesson Before Dying
  8. A Movie...and a Book
  9. A Piece of My Heart
  10. A Special Providence
  11. A Stranger in This World: Stories
  12. A Thing (or Two) about Curtis and Camilla
  13. Abandon
  14. All I Could Get
  15. American Psycho
  16. Anagrams
  17. Angel Rock
  18. Another Green World
  19. Asa, as I Knew Him
  20. Ash Wednesday
  21. Babylon and Other Stories
  22. Babylon Rolling
  23. Back in the World: Stories
  24. Bad Behavior
  25. Bailey's Cafe
  26. Bicycle Days
  27. Big Bad Love: Stories
  28. Black Tickets ((Rev)79 Edition)
  29. Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had to
  30. Breaking and entering
  31. Bridge of Sighs
  32. Brief Lives
  33. Bright Lights, Big City
  34. Brightness Falls
  35. Brother, I'm Dying
  36. Buffalo Soldiers
  37. Burning House
  38. Casa En Mango Street (House on Mango Street)
  39. Cathedral
  40. Catherine Carmier
  41. Chasing Windmills
  42. Checkpoint
  43. Chilly Scenes of Winter
  44. Claire Marvel
  45. Closed Circle (06 Edition)
  46. Company
  47. Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories
  48. Day
  49. Day of the Bees
  50. December
  51. Decreation: Poetry, Essays, Opera
  52. Delcorso's Gallery
  53. Dirty Work
  54. Distortions
  55. Dogwalker: Stories
  56. Don't Cry
  57. Dr. Haggard's Disease
  58. East of the Mountains
  59. East of the Mountains
  60. Edgewater Angels
  61. Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer, 1943-1954, by Jeffrey Cartwright: A Novel
  62. Empire Falls (HBO Tie-In)
  63. Enchanted Night
  64. Et Tu, Babe
  65. Evening
  66. Falling in Place (80 Edition)
  67. Father's Day
  68. Fidel's Last Days
  69. Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories
  70. Fireworks
  71. Five Gates of Hell
  72. Fraud
  73. Friend of My Youth
  74. Gallatin Canyon
  75. Ghost
  76. Glamorama
  77. God's Fool
  78. Goodnight, Nebraska
  79. Gorilla, My Love
  80. Great Neck
  81. Happy All the Time
  82. Henry of Atlantic City
  83. Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen
  84. Honeymoon: And Other Stories
  85. House of Sand and Fog
  86. How to Breathe Underwater: Stories
  87. In a Country of Mothers
  88. In Lucia's Eyes
  89. In My Father's House
  90. In the Cut
  91. In the Driver's Seat
  92. In the Fall
  93. In Times of Siege
  94. Indelible Acts
  95. Jack
  96. Jamesland
  97. Jernigan
  98. Keep the Change
  99. Kentucky Straight: Stories
  100. King Bongo: A Novel of Havana
  101. Krik? Krak!
  102. La Casa En Mango Street
  103. Lark and Termite
  104. Last of Menu Girls - With New Introduction ((Rev)04 Edition)
  105. Latecomers
  106. Leaving Home
  107. Lewis Percy
  108. Like Life: Stories
  109. Like You'd Understand, Anyway
  110. Little America
  111. Love Always
  112. Love Among the Ruins
  113. Love in the Present Tense
  114. Lunar Park
  115. Lust and Other Stories
  116. Lying Awake
  117. Mama Day
  118. Matrimony
  119. Meditations from a Movable Chair: Essays
  120. Meditations in Green
  121. Memoirs of a Geisha
  122. Mile Zero
  123. Monkeys
  124. Moons of Jupiter (82 Edition)
  125. Mortimer of the Maghreb: Stories
  126. Mozart and Leadbelly (05 Edition)
  127. My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist
  128. Netherland
  129. New England White
  130. Ninety-Two in the Shade
  131. Nobody's Angel
  132. Nothing But Blue Skies
  133. Nothing Lost
  134. Of Love and Dust
  135. Off Keck Road: A Novella
  136. Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All
  137. One To Count Cadence
  138. Our Lady of the Forest
  139. Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories
  140. Palace Council
  141. Panama (78 Edition)
  142. Paradise
  143. Park City: New and Selected Stories
  144. Particles and Luck
  145. Peace
  146. Philadelphia Fire
  147. Picturing Will
  148. Plainsong
  149. Players
  150. Preston Falls
  151. Prisoners of War
  152. Project X
  153. Providence
  154. Rabbit Boss
  155. Ransom
  156. Ratner's Star
  157. Reservation Road
  158. Reservation Road
  159. Revolutionary Road (Movie Tie-In Edition)
  160. Rocket City
  161. Salmonella Men on Planet Porno
  162. Sam the Cat: And Other Stories
  163. Samedi the Deafness
  164. SAP Rising
  165. Scooter
  166. Secrets and Surprises
  167. Selected Stories
  168. Self-Help
  169. Short Cuts: Selected Stories
  170. Short People
  171. Snow Falling on Cedars
  172. So I Am Glad
  173. Songs without Words
  174. Spider
  175. St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves: Stories
  176. State of Grace
  177. Still Life with Husband
  178. Story of My Life
  179. Taking Care: Short Stories
  180. The Abomination
  181. The Abortionist's Daughter
  182. The Amalgamation Polka
  183. The Assassin's Song
  184. The Back Nine
  185. The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose
  186. The Big Girls
  187. The Bird Is a Raven
  188. The Brief History of the Dead
  189. The Cadence of Grass
  190. The Cage Keeper: And Other Stories
  191. The Chosen Place, the Timeless People
  192. The Clearing
  193. The Clearing
  194. The Commitments
  195. The Commoner
  196. The Communist's Daughter
  197. The Country Ahead of Us, The Country Behind: Stories
  198. The Dead Fish Museum: Stories
  199. The Dive from Clausen's Pier
  200. The Double Bind
  201. The Emperor of Ocean Park: A Novel
  202. The Emperor's Children
  203. The End of California
  204. The Fan Man
  205. The Favorite Game
  206. The Feast of Love
  207. The Feast of Love (Mti)
  208. The Gone-Away World
  209. The Good Life
  210. The Great Divorce
  211. The Grotesque
  212. The Half-Life of Happiness
  213. The House of Sleep
  214. The House on Mango Street
  215. The Hundred Brothers
  216. The Joy Luck Club
  217. The King in the Tree
  218. The King Is Dead
  219. The Last Good Kiss
  220. The Laughing Sutra
  221. The Lay of the Land
  222. The Legal Limit
  223. The Lost City
  224. The Lost Father
  225. The Mezzanine
  226. The Names
  227. The Other
  228. The Outside World
  229. The Practical Heart
  230. The Progress of Love
  231. The Queen's Gambit
  232. The Rain Before It Falls
  233. The Redneck Way of Knowledge
  234. The Revolution of Little Girls
  235. The Rotters' Club
  236. The Sabotage Cafe
  237. The Salt Eaters
  238. The Senator's Wife
  239. The Soul Thief
  240. The Sporting Club
  241. The Tattoo Artist
  242. The Theory of Light and Matter
  243. The Translation of Dr. Apelles: A Love Story
  244. The Ultimate Good Luck
  245. The Uses of Enchantment
  246. The Varieties of Romantic Experience
  247. The View from the Seventh Layer
  248. The Voyage
  249. The Way Through Doors
  250. The Whore's Child: And Other Stories
  251. The Willow Field
  252. The Winemaker's Daughter
  253. The Wrong Case
  254. Things That Fall from the Sky
  255. Through the Ivory Gate
  256. Tietam Brown
  257. To My Dearest Friends
  258. To Skin a Cat
  259. Traffic and Laughter: Ted Mooney
  260. Trans-Sister Radio
  261. Trauma
  262. Trespass (Vintage)
  263. Trouble: Stories
  264. Typical American
  265. Unaccustomed Earth
  266. Undiscovered Gyrl
  267. Veronica
  268. Visible Spirits
  269. Wetware
  270. What Was Mine: & Other Stories
  271. When the World Was Steady
  272. Where I'm Calling from: New and Selected Stories
  273. Whores on the Hill
  274. Wildlife
  275. Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?: Stories
  276. Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories: And Other Stories
  277. You Don't Love Me Yet
  278. Young Hearts Crying
  279. Zoology
  280. Zoot-Suit Murders

Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse (Vintage Contemporaries)

by Anne Carson

Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse (Vintage Contemporaries) Cover

Staff Pick

Autobiography of Red is the story of Geryon, a winged red monster slain by Herakles, as well as a young boy, tormented by his family, who writes his life story at the age of five. It is both an elaborate re-creation of ancient Greek myth and a contemporary artist's coming-of-age story, — both novel and epic poem — whimsical, haunting, and often disturbing. Autobiography of Red reasserts the simple fact that Anne Carson is one of the most important and genre-breaking writers and scholars publishing today.
Recommended by crystal, Powell's City of Books

Meet Geryon: sensitive, stupid boy and winged, red monster. This is the story, written in verse, of his flight from an abusive brother and cipher-like mother. It's the story of Geryon coming to love a young man named Herakles, and losing him, then finding consolation in art, behind the lens of a camera. It's the portrait of an artist as winged, red monster coming of age into self-knowledge and acceptance. Both novel and poem, comedic and tragic, Autobiography of Red rewrites Greek myth in the present day. The story is both familiar and unfamiliar. It makes good fiction and even better poetry.
Recommended by crystal, Powell's City of Books

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The award-winning poet Anne Carson reinvents a genre in Autobiography of Red, a stunning work that is both a novel and a poem, both an unconventional re-creation of an ancient Greek myth and a wholly original coming-of-age story set in the present.

Geryon, a young boy who is also a winged red monster, reveals the volcanic terrain of his fragile, tormented soul in an autobiography he begins at the age of five. As he grows older, Geryon escapes his abusive brother and affectionate but ineffectual mother, finding solace behind the lens of his camera and in the arms of a young man named Herakles, a cavalier drifter who leaves him at the peak of infatuation. When Herakles reappears years later, Geryon confronts again the pain of his desire and embarks on a journey that will unleash his creative imagination to its fullest extent.

By turns whimsical and haunting, erudite and accessible, richly layered and deceptively simple, Autobiography of Red is a profoundly moving portrait of an artist coming to terms with the fantastic accident of who he is.

Review:

"Anne Carson is, for me, the most exciting poet writing in English today." Michael Ondaatje

Review:

"This book is amazing — I haven't discovered any writing in years so marvelously disturbing." Alice Munro

Review:

"A profound love story...sensuous and funny, poignant, musical and tender." The New York Times Book Review

Review:

"A deeply odd and immensely engaging book....[Carson] exposes with passionate force the mythic underlying the explosive everyday." The Village Voice

Synopsis:

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR<BR>National book Critics Circle Award Finalist <BR>"Anne Carson is, for me, the most exciting poet writing in English today."--Michael Ondaatje <BR>"This book is amazing--I haven't discovered any writing in years so marvelously disturbing." --Alice Munro <BR>The award-winning poet Anne Carson reinvents a genre in Autobiography of Red, a stunning work that is both a novel and a poem, both an unconventional re-creation of an ancient Greek myth and a wholly original coming-of-age story set in the present. <BR>Geryon, a young boy who is also a winged red monster, reveals the volcanic terrain of his fragile, tormented soul in an autobiography he begins at the age of five. As he grows older, Geryon escapes his abusive brother and affectionate but ineffectual mother, finding solace behind the lens of his camera and in the arms of a young man named Herakles, a cavalier drifter who leaves him at the peak of infatuation. When Herakles reappears years later, Geryon confronts again the pain of his desire and embarks on a journey that will unleash his creative imagination to its fullest extent. By turns whimsical and haunting, erudite and accessible, richly layered and deceptively simple, Autobiography of Red is a profoundly moving portrait of an artist coming to terms with the fantastic accident of who he is. <BR>"A profound love story . . . sensuous and funny, poignant, musical and tender."--The New York Times Book Review <BR>"A deeply odd and immensely engaging book. . . . [Carson] exposes with passionate force the mythic underlying the explosive everyday." --The Village Voice

About the Author

Anne Carson lives in Canada.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
timkjazz, September 19, 2006 (view all comments by timkjazz)
Having just come to Anne Carson in a big way due to a poet friend who swears by her, I was ready to be amazed. And I was. Her language in re-telling the tale of the slain monster Geryon, her deadpan humor, her references to the classics we read as children and have mostly forgotten, awakened in me a sense of childhood awe at her staggering talent. Fusing poetry, the novel, essay and autobiography seamlessly in 'Autobiography of Red' (which I just finished one hour ago), Carson has leapt to the forefront of poets in my estimation. Alienation, sadness, betrayal, they all hold sway over the winged creature/boy/man Geryon and his struggle to be whole/real. I am a convert. Anne Carson is a blazingly original talent and in this world of predictable poetry what could be higher praise? Read her and delight in the elasticity of literature in its highest form: poetry.
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(17 of 33 readers found this comment helpful)

Product Details

ISBN:
9780375701290
Subtitle:
A Novel in Verse
Author:
Carson, Anne
Publisher:
Vintage Books USA
Location:
New York
Subject:
American
Subject:
Single Author *
Subject:
Poetry
Subject:
Poetry (poetic works by one author)
Subject:
Monsters
Subject:
Epic poetry, Greek
Subject:
Canadian
Subject:
Heracles
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Paperback
Series:
Vintage Contemporaries (Paperback)
Series Volume:
2280
Publication Date:
July 1999
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
160
Dimensions:
8.34x5.21x.49 in. .41 lbs.

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