Anne Carson (1) (1950–)
Author of Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse
For other authors named Anne Carson, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Anne Carson was born December 16, 1950. Carson is a poet, an essayist, and a classicist. She is the director of the graduate program in Classics at McGill University, where she also teaches Latin and Greek. Carson is perhaps besst know for Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse, which won the 1998 show more QSPELL Prize for Poetry. Carson recently won the 2001 Griffin Poetry Prize for Men in the Off Hours. Carson also won the T.S. Eliot poetry prize for The Beauty of the Husband, the first woman to win the award in its nine-year history. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1998 and received a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship in 2000. Carson is the author of seven books. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Anne Carson
An Oresteia: Agamemnon by Aiskhylos; Elektra by Sophokles; Orestes by Euripides (2009) 297 copies, 6 reviews
The Glass Essay 5 copies
Elektra (NHB Classic Plays): the script of the West End production starring Oscar-winner Brie Larson (2025) 2 copies
La Caída de Roma 1 copy
Eros, o doce-amargo 1 copy
Albertine-æfingarnar 1 copy
Carson, Anne Archive 1 copy
Associated Works
Lost Classics: Writers on Books Loved and Lost, Overlooked, Under-read, Unavailable, Stolen, Extinct, or Otherwise Out of Commission (2000) — Contributor — 320 copies, 6 reviews
Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: Work from 1970 to the Present (2007) — Contributor — 219 copies, 3 reviews
Know the Past, Find the Future: The New York Public Library at 100 (2011) — Contributor — 132 copies, 4 reviews
The Best American Poetry 2014 (The Best American Poetry series) (2014) — Contributor — 89 copies, 1 review
Imaginarium 3: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing (The Imaginarium Series) (2015) — Contributor — 23 copies
Constructions of the Classical Body (The Body, In Theory: Histories of Cultural Materialism) (1999) — Contributor — 14 copies
Syracuse, the Fairest Greek City: Ancient Art from the Museo Archeologico Regionale 'Paolo Orsi' (Fonti per la storia della sanita) (1999) — Contributor — 10 copies
The Poetry Review - Volume 113:4 Winter 2023 — Contributor — 2 copies
Arethusa (vol 21 no 2) — Contributor — 1 copy
Antigone at the Barbican, with Juliette Binoche [Drama, 2015] — Translator — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Carson, Anne
- Legal name
- Carson, Anne Patricia
- Birthdate
- 1950-06-21
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of Toronto (BA|1974|MA|1975|Ph.D|1981)
- Occupations
- poet
essayist
translator
professor
classicist - Organizations
- McGill University
- Awards and honors
- MacArthur Fellowship (2000)
Order of Canada (2005)
Lannan Literary Award (1996)
Griffin Poetry Prize (2001, 2014)
Princess of Asturias Award for Literature (2020)
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, International Honorary Member (1999) (show all 19)
American Academy of Arts and Letters, Foreign Honorary Member (2011)
PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature (2021)
Governor General's Literary Award (2020)
Manuel Acuña International Poetry Prize (2019)
Blue Metropolis International Literary Grand Prize for lifetime achievement (2016)
Criticos Prize (2012)
PEN Award for Poetry in Translation (2010)
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry (2001)
T. S. Eliot Prize (2001)
Pushcart Prize (1997)
QSPELL Award – A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry (1996, 1998, 2001)
Betty Colladay Award (1984)
Guggenheim Fellowship (1998) - Relationships
- Currie, Robert (husband)
- Nationality
- Canada
- Birthplace
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Places of residence
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Montréal, Québec, Canada - Associated Place (for map)
- Canada
Members
Reviews
Nox by Anne Carson
Here is one book that I should probably always leave on my Currently Reading shelf, if only because it is something that demands revisiting year after year. As a physical object it is exquisite, with its box container and accordian folded leaves that present the illusion of single separate pages only to coalesce into one very large and long continuous page... Much like the fragmented pieces that together form a life. And this physical presentation is basically Carson's thesis: to somehow show more bring together the fragments she's collected of her dead brother's years and in them discover the life that was hidden to her when he was alive.
The result is magnificent and sobering and melancholy and haunting. The print quality is so high that you're tricked into thinking the staples and pressed-in ink impressions and pastings are all actual 3d renderings and not just superb trompe loeil ink on paper - and that's very important to the text because a visceral feel to these pages is essential to the reading experience.
The text alternates between a word by word translation of Catallus poem 101 and letter fragments from her brother mixed with the author's reflections. Read slowly to savor... And then put it on a safe shelf until you're ready to reread next year. show less
The result is magnificent and sobering and melancholy and haunting. The print quality is so high that you're tricked into thinking the staples and pressed-in ink impressions and pastings are all actual 3d renderings and not just superb trompe loeil ink on paper - and that's very important to the text because a visceral feel to these pages is essential to the reading experience.
The text alternates between a word by word translation of Catallus poem 101 and letter fragments from her brother mixed with the author's reflections. Read slowly to savor... And then put it on a safe shelf until you're ready to reread next year. show less
Anne Carson's Oresteia
Review of the Faber & Faber (2009) hardcover edition
Although this edition is primarily credited to Aeschylus (or Aiskhylos, in the pronunciation friendly spelling provided by Carson) it properly belongs to Anne Carson herself. This is not "The Oresteia" of Aiskhylos but is instead "An Oresteia" created by anthologizing the primary play of the original trilogy with Sophokles "Elektra" and Euripides "Orestes". It thus tells the same story but with the additional slant of show more later historical perspective.
As detailed in the introduction, Carson completed her trilogy at the request of Brian Kulick of New York City's Classic Stage Company who convinced her that:
Carson's translation takes a few unorthodox steps. She leaves the Greek laments and cries of woe in the original. So instead of standard clichés such as "Oh woe is me," you see expressions of "OIMOI" which may lend themselves to more exaggerated shrieks of despair and desolation by the actors. She also injects passages of 21st century expression in the translation, which may themselves seem dated in later readings. For instance, describing Helen of Troy as a weapon of mass destruction seems to place the translation in a certain era of the news cycle to present ears. Still, all in all, this was a refreshing and exciting view of one of our earliest epic tragedy trilogies. show less
Review of the Faber & Faber (2009) hardcover edition
Although this edition is primarily credited to Aeschylus (or Aiskhylos, in the pronunciation friendly spelling provided by Carson) it properly belongs to Anne Carson herself. This is not "The Oresteia" of Aiskhylos but is instead "An Oresteia" created by anthologizing the primary play of the original trilogy with Sophokles "Elektra" and Euripides "Orestes". It thus tells the same story but with the additional slant of show more later historical perspective.
As detailed in the introduction, Carson completed her trilogy at the request of Brian Kulick of New York City's Classic Stage Company who convinced her that:
In Aiskhylos’ hands the story of the house of Atreus is designed to end in a valedictory celebration of Athenian democracy and its newborn sense of justice; when Sophokles takes over the tale it becomes more complex and contradictory; with Euripides the design is completely turned on its head. We follow a trajectory from myth to mockery. What happened to effect this? History happened. Aiskhylos composed his Oresteia shortly after Athens’ victory at the battle of Marathon which marked the height of Athenian military and cultural supremacy; Euripides finished his Orestes almost a hundred years later as Athens headed for ruin due to her protracted involvement in the Peloponnesian War.… The house of Atreus, for these tragedians, was a way of talking about the fate of Athens.
Carson's translation takes a few unorthodox steps. She leaves the Greek laments and cries of woe in the original. So instead of standard clichés such as "Oh woe is me," you see expressions of "OIMOI" which may lend themselves to more exaggerated shrieks of despair and desolation by the actors. She also injects passages of 21st century expression in the translation, which may themselves seem dated in later readings. For instance, describing Helen of Troy as a weapon of mass destruction seems to place the translation in a certain era of the news cycle to present ears. Still, all in all, this was a refreshing and exciting view of one of our earliest epic tragedy trilogies. show less
Anne Carson puts a modern spell on Sophocles’ classic ancient Greek tragedy Antigone. An undeniable master stroke beating in its poetic vibrance, this play was stunningly brought to life on Ivo van Hove’s minimalist stage where a circle resides in the middle; a spectator; its luminescence deliberately mimics the moon / sun as they run their course in parallel with the development of the tragedy. A timeless classic that is frighteningly relevant as ever: the dispute between religious and show more secular laws, authoritarianism and its depredation on culture and faith, and the perils any type of extremism brings. It’s indeed an act of revolt when Antigone secretly buries his brother Polyneikes against King Kreon’s tyranny where a domino effect of mishap and pain follows. And where there is revolt there is also resignation in its horrifying violence. I watched the BBC Four programme and actress Juliette Binoche undoubtedly gives a stupendous performance as Antigone. And together with a brilliant supporting cast, this is a sure delight for Greek mythology and Anne Carson enthusiasts alike. A pleasure both on print and on-screen. show less
This book was unlike anything I'd ever read before. It is a story told in freeform verse and prose. Based on the Greek myth of Geryon but taking place before his involvement in the twelve labors of Herakles, "Autobiography of Red" is a coming-of-age story. Geryon is a teenaged boy, a winged red monster whose emotions sometimes overwhelm him and who struggles to find his identity. Although told in the third person, the book is Geryon's story - his story of growing up with an abusive older show more brother and loving but useless mother; of falling in love with Herakles, whose emotions don't run anywhere as deeply as Geryon's and who cavalierly breaks his heart; of finding ways to express himself as a photographer; of accidentally reconnecting with Herakles many years later and having to face unresolved feelings.
The book is at times ethereal in its beauty, at times raw and unapologetic. It brought out in me a mishmash of emotions: love, sympathy, pity, anger, discomfort. I had never read Anne Carson before, but I am now very much intrigued and would love to read her poetry. show less
The book is at times ethereal in its beauty, at times raw and unapologetic. It brought out in me a mishmash of emotions: love, sympathy, pity, anger, discomfort. I had never read Anne Carson before, but I am now very much intrigued and would love to read her poetry. show less
Lists
Literary Witches (4)
. (1)
Read These Too (1)
Deathreads (1)
Poetry Corner (1)
Take Four Books (1)
Top 10 2021 (1)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 52
- Also by
- 34
- Members
- 10,118
- Popularity
- #2,346
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 152
- ISBNs
- 205
- Languages
- 14
- Favorited
- 20
