The cover of Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson is a very simple one. Other than the few words that tell the reader what the novel is and who it is written by, there is a picture of a volcano that has recently erupted. The way one can tell that is because of the smoke that is rising from the volcanic crater. Volcanoes are mentioned many times throughout the novel, but why is that? It is because Geryon unconsciously views Herakles as a volcano.
Geryon begins to form an interest in volcanoes because of Herakles. Herakles tells him the story of the “Volcano man” and from that point on, Geryon spends much of his life thinking about volcanoes. Simultaneously, he also spends much of his life thinking about Herakles. The times we as readers see Geryon thinking about volcanoes are the same times he is either around Herakles or remembering their time together. He obsesses over these two separate objects but always at the same time.
Geryon’s reasoning for this is the fact that Herakles erupted, and when he did that, he changed Geryon’s life forever. Volcanoes are looked to by some cultures as something to be feared but also something to be worshiped. They are seen as gods and so is Herakles. In the Greek myth of Herakles, he is a demigod, his father being Zeus and his mother being a mortal woman. He completed his 12 labors in order to achieve immortality. Herakles expects to be praised and worshiped, but does not care about anyone else. Just like a volcano, he is something that seems beautiful from a distance, but the closer you get to him and the more time you spend near him, he is bound to hurt you. Geryon learns that first-hand.
Years after his first relationship with Herakles, Geryon runs into him again. He forms a sexual relationship with Herakles once more, but learns to keep a distance from him, to put on an armor to protect him. Herakles gave him that armor. When a volcano explodes, lava is thrown from the giant mountain and covers the surrounding area. But lava is just molten rock, so once that rock cools down, it becomes another layer added to the earth, or for Geryon, it becomes armor. Geryon may love Herakles, but he has learned that he is not better than a volcano.
I really love how you related the volcano to Herakles, especially in the sense that it’s beautiful from afar but also destructive and damaging. I think that definitely sums up their relationship, particularly in the earlier parts of the novel when Geryon does not yet have his armor as you wrote about. I think it’s interesting that you describe Herakles in relation to a volcano because in the end it’s actually Geryon that is more connected to volcanoes. I wonder how this complicates the reading of Herakles being a volcano that Geryon needs armor to protect himself from when Geryon is also “from” volcanoes.
This is so interesting!! I especially love your point about volcanos sometimes being seen as gods, just as Herakles is. That is such a cool connection. It’s this unknowable, huge object that one cannot predict (or at least couldn’t for most of human history). Pulling at this idea more, I wonder if Herakles’ personality points at being a volcano at all — the temper of the character of the original myth, his eratic and cannot-sit-still nature, unpredictability, etc. If Herakles is a volcano, what does that make Geryon? Also, keeping with the classical world and stories that are told, does this volcano metaphor connect to the eruption of Pompeii at all? Perhaps with Geryon being left behind or a plaster shell of himself afterwards?
Humans are so incredibly insignificant when compared to the size and catastrophic potential of volcanoes. I think this imagery perfectly describes the relationship Herakles has to other people. As you mention, he just doesn’t care about them because they are so irrelevant to him, and even miniscule compared to his boundless energy and impulsiveness. I think it’s also so interesting that Geryon is indirectly compared to the eyewitnesses who flew into volcanoes and survived to tell the tale. This truly speaks to their destructive potential, as to simply witness and survive these events/Herakles is enough.