Red Doc> Summary
Anne Carson

Red Doc> Overview

Red Doc>, the sequel to Autobiography of Red, is an experimental novel by Anne Carson. Written mostly in narrow columns of sporadically punctuated prose, Red Doc> continues the tragicomic, mythology-inspired romance of Geryon and Herakles, now named G and Sad But Great. Like Autobiography of Red, the plot of Red Doc> is episodic, driven by waves of language rather than dramatic incident, but the general tone has changed: emotion has been largely traded for thought, immersion for detachment, realism for absurdism, and mythology for modernity. Whereas Autobiography of Red was a heartbreaking portrait of the artist as a young red man with wings, Red Doc> is a painful (yet funny) snapshot of the disillusioned artist as a not-so-young man, who has come to prefer Proust to philosophy, comfort to adventure, and irony to grief.