Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Carson's Use of Sight

Diving into this novel, I was also skeptical about the style in which Anne Carson chose to write Geryon's story. However, after the first few pages I was completely entranced by how she utilized descriptions in order for us, as readers, to experience Geryon's life.
Carson used her descriptions to emphasize Geryon's experience of the outside world particularly using the sense of sight. One thing I noticed about this novel was the small amount of verbal interaction between characters, most especially on the part of Geryon. It made me feel like I was looking at the world through a paper bag with only two holes for seeing all the while muffling my voice.
She successfully makes the reader feel Geryon's mental oppression while revealing much about other characters in Geryon's experiences.
Similar to the passage we read in class by Gertrude Stein, Carson wrote this novel in a form that lays out a mental process. It showed the observations that one would make through senses as well as the ability of the mind to jump from one thought to next without any progression.
I thoroughly enjoyed the way that Carson wrote this novel and would like to read some more of her works. It is extremely different from other novel types and more cleverly reveals the personality of the characters than other books I have read.

1 comment:

Peggy Solic said...

I agree; I really felt that the way Carson used descriptions made me feel as if I could experience the world according to Geryon. Because the novel is from his perspective, I had a hard time seeing the world from the perspective of anyone else in the novel.