ANALYSIS OF ‘IX. SPACE AND TIME’

Analyisis of  a section of ‘IX. SPACE AND TIME’ from Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson (1998)

PASSAGE:
Geryon was amazed at himself. He saw Herakles just about every day now.
The instant of nature
forming between them drained every drop from the walls of his life
leaving behind just ghosts
rustling like an old map. He had nothing to say to anyone. He felt loose and shiny.
He burned in the presence of his mother.
I hardly know you anymore, she said leaning against the doorway of his room.
It had rained suddenly at suppertime,
now sunset was startling drops at the window. Stale peace of old bedtimes
filled the room. Love does not
make me gentle or kind, thought Geryon as he and his mother eyed each other
from opposite shores of the light.
He was filling his pockets with money, keys, film. She tapped a cigarette
on the back of her hand.
I put some clean T-shirts in your top drawer this afternoon, she said.
Her voice drew a circle
around all the years he had spent in this room. 

ANALYSIS:

Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson (1998) is a piece of experimental fiction written in verse. It is based on the Greek Myth that follows Geryon and Herakles’s Tenth Labor, where Herakles. The novel re-tells this narrative as a coming-of-age romance in a contemporary setting. In chapter 9 of the novel, ‘IX. SPACE AND TIME’, Carson lays out a scene where Geryon’s mother addresses her fourteen-year-old son her concern that their relationship is growing distant, as he prepares to leave to spend more time with his new friend, Herakles. Geryon is reluctant to discuss her concerns with her. The chapter is slow, mellow and melancholic, shaped by Carson’s use of multiple literary elements, including figurative language, setting and characterisation. 

The scene begins with Geryon being described as being “amazed at himself” in response to how he was seeing Herakles every day. Implied by the previous events in the novel, Geryon did not have close friends or shared a strong bond with any of his peers growing up. Geryon was previously depicted as quiet and reserved, and appeared to be distant from others. Now that he was seeing Herakles often, Geryon was experiencing, for the first time, a real bond with someone within his age bracket. His ‘amazement’ at himself suggests that he was surprised that he could maintain a friendship for so long, and that he did not know he could enjoy someone’s company this way. This is the most positive Geryon has been depicted in the narrative since his brother’s abuse.

The growing relationship between Geryon and Herakles is described as the “Instant of nature”. While part of a larger sentence, this portion is isolated, bringing significance to its meaning in relation to the narrative.

Geryon and Herakles’s relationship being described with the words ‘instant’ and ‘nature’ leads to two interpretations which can coexist with one another.

1. Is a description of how the growth of Geryon and Herakles’s bond is organic and immediate.
2. Is an illustration that alludes to nature. In describing Geryon and Herakles’s relationship as an ‘instant of nature growing between them’, a reader could visualise a timelapse of a garden or a beautiful forest blossoming as a metaphor.

From Geryon’s point of view, his growing bond with Herakles is framed to be his most significant breakthrough so far, especially in relation to his traumatic past. To Geryon, his new bond with Herakles is described to have “drained every drop from the walls of his life”. ‘Walls’, while a neutral noun, leans towards a more negative connotation, given the narrative’s context. The walls represent something akin to large barriers – something trapping Geryon from experiencing his life as he wished. Those walls are then described to disappear in the form of droplets being drained away – droplets being a tiny portion of water from a larger body – illustrating the “walls in [Geryon’s] life” disappearing slowly, yet consistently. This image is used to represent the healing effect of Geryon spending time with Herakles. 

However, following the image of the walls draining away, an isolated line describes how, in their disappearance, all that are left are ‘ghosts’. Ghosts represent the essence or spirit of something that is gone physically, yet still lingers or haunts someone or something due to dissatisfaction with their death. The line following describes those ghosts “rustling like an old map”. Interpreting this, the remaining ‘ghosts’ are Geryon’s traumas that continue to be relevant to his being. Comparing those ghosts to an ‘old map’ – I will admit – is a metaphor I struggled to interpret, however how I see an old map is something whose details are outdated, yet the big picture still remains the same, possibly related to how Geryon may be past his traumas, yet they still impact him. 

Also while spending time with Herakles is implied to be a positive aspect of Geryon’s life, we are told that he ‘[has] nothing to say to anyone’. This has two interpretations which both are accurate to the narrative and can coexist with each other:

1. The nature of their time together is something that Geryon preferred to keep to himself, or himself and Herakles.
2. Geryon’s feelings about himself spending time with Herakles is something that he preferred to keep to himself. Perhaps at this point in the narrative, he had already developed romantic feelings towards Herakles and feels reluctant to reveal them.

Geryon is then described as feeling “loose and shiny” in response to his time spent with Herakles. ‘Loose’, in the context of the narrative, has a positive implication. This looseness suggests that Geryon is not feeling tense or tied down by something, further emphasising the metaphor of the “walls from his life” disappearing. ‘Shiny’ also has a positive implication, if not more positive than the former. The word alludes to cleanliness and brightness – Geryon feels happy and unashamed at his bond with Herakles. Readers may also interpret this as having romantic undertones, especially in reference to the narrative being described as “a romance” in the second title page of the book.

We are now drawn out of Geryon’s psyche and transported to the physical world, at the mention of Geryon’s mother. Geryon is described to have “burned in the presence of [her]”. ‘Burning’ describes a feeling that is warm or hot, and, due to its intensity, is never a neutral adjective (either positive or negative). Shame is the most viable interpretation of this burning, as Geryon is reluctant to share with his mother details about the nature of his time spent with Herakles outside of their discussions about art, and even about himself. This shame is further amplified by the fact that Geryon’s mother had also previously shown skepticism towards Herakles, having only heard about him and never actually meeting him.

Finally, the first instance of dialogue is spoken, where Geryon’s mother expresses to Geryon, “I hardly know you anymore” – a straightforward comment on the distancing relationship between her and Geryon. As she says this, she is positioned at the doorway of Geryon’s room, being right outside of his personal space, rather than inside of it. This use of setting and “mise-en-scene” is a metaphor, emphasising how Geryon’s mother can only access the surface of Geryon, not any further.

We learn more about the setting as the time and context is revealed through the mentions of ‘rained’ and ‘suppertime’, events that had presumably passed already, and “sunset [...] startling drops at the window” being another image to set the tone. Combined, these three factors create a slow and melancholic, yet nostalgic atmosphere. In addition, “stale peace of old bedtimes”  is described to have “filled the room”. ‘Old bedtimes’ refers to the once intimate bond that Geryon and his mother once shared in his childhood, and ‘stale peace’ is all that can be dredged from it. ‘Stale’ as a descriptor depicts ‘peace’ as still functional as a noun, but no longer satisfying or pleasant, adding to the melancholy and nostalgia.

Geryon does not reply to his mother’s comment about their distancing relationship. In response, he thinks to himself, “Love does not / make me gentle or kind”, where the ‘love’ he refers to is likely towards his mother – he loves her but he does not show her affection. The tone of his statement is aloof, yet not resentful. As he thinks this, Geryon and his mother “[eye] each other / from opposite shores of the light,” brought on from Geryon’s window, where the imagery poses as a metaphor for their relationship, and the words ‘opposite shores’ further emphasise their distance from one another. The use of the word ‘shore’, associated with bodies of water, softens the edges of the opposite ends of the light in its imagery.

The silence continues, and for a moment, both Geryon and his mother are completely dissonant from each other, performing actions of their own that don’t interact. Geryon fills his pockets with items he will need for going out, supposedly to spend time with Herakles again, as his mother watches, “[tapping] a cigarette on the back of her hand”. This can be seen as a voiceless dialogue between the two characters, while not directly interacting with each other, communicating their distance. 

In comes the next instance of speech where Geryon’s mother brings up a mundane conversation topic, reminding Geryon, “I put some clean T-shirts in your top drawer this afternoon”. Then in an isolated line, her voice is described to have “[drawn] a circle” followed by, “...around all the years [Geryon] had spent in this room”. Geryon’s mother’s voice being depicted as “[drawing] a circle” creates the image of her trying to embrace the concept of how she knew Geryon in the past – here she is trying to hold onto something that she once had which is disappearing from her. The choice of a circle, instead of a shape with vertices, alludes to aimlessness, and how this whole time she was trying to meet him, but never could. The circle is also considered a soft and gentle shape. It only makes Geryon’s mother’s longing more tender.