#about carson

Sorry, I don’t! But most of the chapbook is taken up by a re-edited version of Carson’s essay, “Variations on the Right to Remain Silent”, of which a similar (I think older?) version is available for free here. It’s followed by two poetry exercises that are interesting in their own right, but the essay is by far the most interesting in my opinion.

Hi! Definitely Eros the Bittersweet if you're looking to read more of her down the line—it's engaging, thought-provoking and accessible, and it lays the foundation for most of what she explores throughout her body of later works: desire, language, performance vs. writing, etc. Antigonick is great (obviously... I loved it), but it's more niche and narrow, and I think one draws more from it with the context of Carson's earlier writing(s). I'd recommend reading If Not Winter (translation notes included) before that as well, to get a glimpse of how Carson approaches translation, and how/why she went in that direction with Antigonick.

Hmmm, maybe you mean Variations on the Right to Remain Silent, which exists as an essay and as part of a chapbook titled Nay, Rather? I think that would be the most straightforward work specifically on writing (or at least on creating in an hybrid space that writing is part of). She does mention writing more roundaboutly pretty much everywhere though -- I would recommend Decreation, where she doesn't outright explore her own writing process, but that sheds light on it through her comparative studies and what she "sees" in others'.

Hi! Yes, I've read all of her works. Eros the Bittersweet is an offshoot of Carson's PhD thesis, extracted and amended into the essay form. It hasn't changed from edition to edition, except maybe very minimally! The last publication is only a reedition in a new collection. You can buy any of them.

Still, the experimentation on format and tangos is exciting, as are the metaphorical / mythological motifs running throughout, so there's that!

“Who Can A Monster Blame for Being Red?” Three Fragments on the Academic and the “Other” in Autobiography of Red”, by Bruce Beasley

Mary Oliver very much. Her long-time partner was Mary Malone Cook. For Anne Carson I'll add a disclaimer: she won't touch labels with a ten-foot-pole, but gender-non-conformity (see Autobiography of Red, Antigonick, and Elektra or Bakkhai's translation notes), demi/asexuality (see AoR, The Anthropology of Water, Mimnermos: The Brainsex Paintings, The Glass Essay) and bisexuality (see AoR, Red Doc>, Canicula di Anna, Sappho If Not Winter, or Beauty of the Husband) are an elemental part of all her works. The way she tackles the concept of Eros as well as her constant effort towards genre-bending is tied to queerness too, in my opinion. Her works are about queerness, but they are also full of deflections and blur the line between confession and autofiction. I personally read her as queer, but that's in the largest sense of the word.

Hey! No strict order, and it's just my preference, but I'd recommend going for chronological-ish—her translations are already creative at the start, but they veer more into transcreation as time goes on. Elektra is fairly straightforward, it's a good one to start with. It's also one of my favourites; you'll find it again in her Oresteia, with a few tweaks. Grief Lessons and an Oresteia are accessible without knowing much of the source-texts, Carson gives you the keys in her introductions. Then, Iphigenia Among The Taurians and Bakkhai, which are more performance/intervention-based, but still clearly translations; then, if you're feeling it, go for Antigonick and The Trojan Women; these are fully settled in adaptation/rewriting riff territory, but they're very neat. You just need to be a bit used to her voice and schtick before you dive into those.