Reading Anne Carson After Her Nobel Prize in Literature

Brian Lehrer (0:10)

Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Well, we began today's show with Maria Ressa, who shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. We'll end it with a short conversation about this year's winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Anne Carson. Last week in Stockholm, the Swedish Academy awarded the prize to the 76-year-old Canadian writer, quote, for her bold and inventive oeuvre that in playful dialogue with the classical tradition has created new forms for contemporary literature, unquote. Her work includes a verse novel about a winged red monster who falls in love with Heracles, a meditation on the death of her brother printed in an accordion fold-out book, translations of Sappho and Euripides, and a performance piece that imagines Marilyn Monroe as Helen of Troy. When the Academy finally reached her, Carson had been ignoring the calls. She was in Iceland, and the only thing she had time to say, according to the Academy secretary, was that she was listening to the wind. Her own verdict on the prize to Icelandic television, crazy.

Ash Wu is a books news reporter at The New York Times and joins us now. Ash wrote an article called An Anne Carson Reader, which offers guidance on where to start with this prolific and now awarded author's work. Hi, Ash. Welcome to WNYC.

Ash Wu (1:36)

Hi, Brian. Thanks so much for having me.

Brian Lehrer (1:39)

And this is a short segment, folks, but we have, if we have any Anne Carson readers or super, super fans out there, call up and recommend a book or blurb Anne Carson's work in a phrase or so, 212-433-WNYC, call or text 212-433-9692. So, Ash, how would you describe Anne Carson's writing to someone who has never read her? Is it poetry, essays, translation, something else?

Ash Wu (2:12)

I think one thing about Anne that really sets her apart from a lot of other contemporary poets is the fact that I see her as a bit of a time traveler. So, as the Nobel committee mentioned, she bridges antiquity and the modern day. She was classically trained in Hellenistic literature, and she also applies those feelings to these incredibly modern human emotions of grief, longing, and heartbreak.

She does so in a way that I would argue is very accessible as well. Sam Anderson in a 2013 profile of her for The New York Times magazine said that her work can seduce even people who don't like poetry, and I think that's the most accurate way to describe her work.

Brian Lehrer (3:00)

The Nobel committee stressed her dialogue with the classical tradition, and many of us associate ancient Greece with something red once in high school and left behind. Why does she make Homer, Sappho and others in that tradition feel like they're talking to us right now?

Ash Wu (3:19)

I think that her breakout novel and verse, Autobiography of Red, is a very good example of how she brings these feelings into modernity.

In this one, she touches upon the myth of the monster Garion, who was slain by Heracles. Instead of telling the fragmentary poem as it was, she actually brings him into the modern day and repaints him as a gay teenager who's dealing with tumultuous family life and is also experiencing all these emotions of falling in love for the first time with Heracles and the ensuing heartbreak. I think she does this in a way that makes it relatable not only for readers who are more familiar with poetry, but even for me as a teenager, I was entranced by the way that she was able to foreground all of these universal emotions.

Brian Lehrer (4:14)

And she has a reputation as a brainy scholarly writer, yet people describe weeping over Knox, the book she made after her brother Michael's death. So she's pretty hard to pin down as a writer, right?

Ash Wu (4:28)

I think she is difficult to pin down, and Knox is a great example of one thing that she does, which is she plays very often with form and genre and defies convention in all of those ways. I remember after her Nobel win was announced, I was rifling through my bookshelf trying to find anything that I had of her. And I had Knox, which is actually packaged in a box. And when you open it, the book itself unfolds like an accordion. And it's pretty much a scrapbook of all of her memories associated with her brother. That includes polaroids and illustrations, and it's very experimental.

And I think that that's something that characterizes her work very well.

Brian Lehrer (5:12)

And that's Knox, N-O-X, if you're looking for it, folks. Here's an Anne Carson reader, Suvinn in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Thank you for calling in. Hi.