Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red is a world of subjective reality. Carson explores the relationship between subject and object through a reworking of an original Greek myth. The original myth is of Herakles, who’s tenth labor was to kill Geryon, a red winged monster who lived on an island, and steal his cattle. Carson takes the insignificant character of Geryon and creates a story based on his life, as if set in modern times. Autobiography of Red enters a world of ambiguity, where all objects are challenged and made into subjects.Geryon is the subject of Autobiography of Red. The title alone delineates the fact that Geryon writes this story about himself. It is his autobiography; he is both the author and the subject. In the original myth, Herakles was the subject, and Geryon was simply an object in Herakles’ story. Anne Carson molds the slightest references to Geryon in the original myth and forms a story for him, his own story. Geryon also becomes the author of his own story. Even before Geryon learns how to write, he begins his autobiography: “In this work Geryon set down all inside things / [. . .] He coolly omitted all outside things.” (29). Geryon’s autobiography ignores the realities set by outside forces. The autobiography consists only of that which is a reality to Geryon. This is a subjective world, because everybody’s personal reality is different. It cannot be set and standardized like outside realities. He begins this autobiography as a sculpture, as his mother tells a friend: “[Geryon’s] right here working on his autobiography / [. . .] it’s a sculpture he doesn’t know how to write yet” (35). On his sculpture, which is really a tomato, Geryon uses “some pieces of crispy paper he found in her [his mother’s] purse to use for hair / and was gluing these to the top of the tomato.” Geryon’s mother does not stop...
