Description

In a stunningly original mix of poetry, drama, and narrative, Anne Carson brings the red-winged Geryon from Autobiography of Red, now called ‘G’, into manhood, and through the complex labyrinths of the modern age. We join him as he travels with his friend and lover ‘Sad’ (short for Sad But Great), a war veteran, and with Ida, an artist, across a geography that ranges from plains of glacial ice to idyllic green pastures; from a psychiatric clinic to the sombre house where G’s mother must face her death. Haunted by Proust, juxtaposing the hunger for flight with the longing for family and home, this deeply powerful picaresque verse invites readers on an extraordinary journey of intellect, imagination, and soul.

Publisher Review

I have never read a poet where there was such a sense that the material was so unruly it might overwhelm its creator. It is this that makes Carson exciting... She writes with spendthrift ease. -- Kate Kellaway * Observer * To engage so originally and compellingly with a story first told more than 3,000 years ago, is astonishing: her ambition is one thing, the fact that it is so completely achieved is, frankly, something else... Carson is, simply, one of the very best. -- Sarah Crown * Guardian * [Carson's] work over the last three decades has the flux of tidal waters. Words deceptively simple become in context an exhilarating tsunami of images with a shift in typographical structure. -- Hayden Murphy * Herald * 'A true poet, in the sense that she makes the unfamiliar seem real, and the real seem fabulous.' * Richard Eyre, Start the Week * The narrative poem plays delightfully with form, at times approaching stream of consciousness in the vivid interplay of memory and dialogue. * Financial Times * Some of the most arresting poetry I've read this year... Complex and beautiful. -- Alex MacDonald * Quietus * Strange, affecting and very exciting. I guarantee it will blow your mind. -- Nick Harkaway * Female First * I think she's maybe the greatest living writer. * Line of Best Fit *