Monday, January 21, 2008

I enjoyed our first trek into the avant-garde. Since the novel was written in verse it seemed to jump through space and time easily without having to explain the transitions. The novel was also void of the "unnecessary" and we were left with the raw story of a young man's life. This form worked well for me for the most part, but there were a few times when I would have liked to know more or have stayed in the scene for a little longer.
I also thought that turning the original story into a romance between the two young men was an interesting idea. Another thing that caught my attention was that no one seemed to notice much that Geryon was red, but were surprised when they found out he had wings.

5 comments:

Jody said...

That is something I was concerned with as well. With the title being "Autobiography of Red" I thought the color red would have much more to do with Geryon's story. It seems the wings are the main part of Geryon that makes him so different from everyone else. I also wondered why no one was concerned with him being red, especially when they go to Huaraz. I would think being red would be an obvious give-away rather than wings that are hiding under clothes.

Jenni Saathoff said...

I'm not sure if maybe his skin color wasn't as red as it sounds, so that is why people don't notice, but I am commenting on the title of the book. I think it is called "Autobiography of Red" because that is the color that Geryon associates things in the world and himself with besides the fact that he actually is red. He is upset when Herakles tells him he associated him with the color green and he slowly starts to realize that Herakles doesn't know him at all.

Joanie Corcoran said...

I agree with Jenni. The color red may be a reference to the rage he feels within himself due to all the dysfunction that he experience during his childhood and the lack of people's understanding of his childhood.

Lily Hoang said...

What I love about this novel is that all of Geryon's "abnormalities," such as his color, wings, sexuality, etc., are normalized. They are given an everyday quality to them, such that the text is infused with redness and freakishness, but we as readers have so much more at hand, that we as readers are in sensory overload to the point that we can only point out this particular or that particular freakishness. This, to me, is beautiful. It gives us living in the "real world" an entirely new framework.

By calling it _Autobiography of Red_, Carson draws attention to Geryon's redness. Had she called it _Autobiography of Wings_ (not as striking of a title, I have to admit), would it have changed our focus?

So many questions...

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