By: Ramlal Agarwal

The Nobel Committee for Literature awarded Anne Carson the 2026 Nobel Prize, recognising her bold, inventive verse, her playful dialogue with the classical tradition, and her creation of new forms in contemporary literature. Carson has long studied the classics assiduously. She earned a PhD for her work on the Greek poet Sappho, translated Greek classics into English, and taught at several universities.

In her engagement with classical literature, she was especially fascinated by the Greek poet Stesichoros because Stesichoros was a rebel poet against classical tradition. He believed that classical tradition was too rigid and did not allow the free play of language and literary forms, which blinded poets. He cited his own example to support his belief. He said that he wrote a poem on Helen following classical tradition and lost his vision. Then he wrote another poem following his call and got back his vision. This set him on the path of rebellion, challenged the Greek story of Herakles and Geryon, and gave it an interpretation and new form. Instead of one single narrative, he wrote it in separate fragments. His original version is lost, and only a few fragments have surfaced without any clue to their antecedents.

Carson takes her inspiration from these fragments and writes her version of Geryon’s story and calls it Autobiography of Red.

Carson’s Geryon resembles Eros, not the monster of the myth. He was born into an American family but was unlike other American children. He has wings and is red, not interested in studies, and inclined towards same-sex romance. Early on, he is inducted into it by his elder brother. One day he finds his brother masturbating and becomes curious, and his brother takes him in his fold. He does not mind. One day he needed change for a dollar and went to the bus stop and met Herakles. Herakles, getting off the bus, had just arrived from Mexico. Gerion approaches him and asks him whether he can give him change for a dollar. Herakles tells him that he cannot. However, he offers him a quarter for free. This offer sets them talking. While walking together, Herakles tells Gerion that his hands are cold, and he takes his hand and slips it under his shirt, and they become friends. Later, they plan a visit to Herakles’ hometown, Hades, to watch the volcano in all its aspects. Herakles’ grandmother greets them at home and spends time in Herakles’ rickety home, and while enjoying each other’s company, they also follow their individual interests. Herakles is interested in observing things and making notes, and Gerion is interested in taking photographs and keeping them as keepsakes. His photographs form an album of moments gone by without context. He calls them fragments.

Stesichoros’ work is lost, although bits of it surface from time to time. They read like torn pieces of a long narrative poem hopelessly shuffled up. Yet, some of them do suggest the fate of humanity. Carson reimagines them in the idiom of the day.

One of them is called Distances. It is about people who gather for a philosophical lecture and, at 6 o’clock, disperse and head towards a bar. There they discuss food and their favourite dishes. mingled with topics of philosophy and ethics. One of them, called Lazer, shared a table with Gerion. He said, “My daughter likes to draw pictures, while I write in my journal. It was very bright this morning, unexpectedly clear like a summer day, and I looked up and saw a shadow of a bird flashing across the leaves of an acacia as if on a screen projected, and it seemed to me that I was standing on a hill. I have laboured up to the top of the hill. It has taken about half of life to get here, and on the other side of the hill, the hill slopes down. Behind me, somewhere I turned around, and I could see my daughter beginning to climb hand over hand like a little gold animal in the morning sun. That is what we are—”creatures moving on a hill at different instances,” said Gerion. Lazer said, “At distances always changing, we cannot help one another or even cry. What would I say to her? “Don’t climb so fast.” Lazer looked at his watch. “I must go,” he said.

Another chapter is titled Harrods. It is a giant mall. Herakles, Gerion, and Aneash came to it; they gazed at the various objects. Herakles is especially fascinated by the image of a tiger and decides to lift it. He does this with immense dexterity, and the three board a bus for Peru.

Through chapters such as these, Stesichoros and Carson illustrate how genuine philosophers become mere pretenders and authentic heroes are reduced to thieves. These episodes confront us with an inner hollowness—a pervasive void—which lies at the heart of The Autobiography of Red.