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3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Rating: 4/5
Pages: 160
Started: 11 April 2024
Finished: 13 April 2024
Summary:
Built from the fragments of Stesichoros' ancient Greek poem about Geryon the red monster, Carson creatively re-tells the story of Geryon and Herakles.
Thoughts:
I remember the first time I read this book I was obsessed with the poetry; this time I was more interested in the materials in the appendices at the start of the book. Either way, Carson did a fascinating thing by modernizing Geryon's story in such an abstract way. There aren't clear parallels (ie the 'chapters' of fragments don't correspond to the 'chapters' of the narratives) aside from the characters themselves, but it's such an interesting use of classical art in the modern day. Carson's writing is also really impressive; she conjures images with such dexterity and perfect randomness that everything feels surprising but nothing feels out of place. She also doesn't use universal symbols in an expected way--Geryon is red, the volcano is red, but the color isn't necessarily used to symbolize rage or passion or blood. I would be really interested to take a class on ancient Greek narrative poetry including some of Carson's work, because I can feel there are things from this book I'm missing (since I'm not super caught up on the complexities of Greek bards) but I'm glad to have re-read this book anyway.