Anne Carson

With an intellect as restless as it is dazzlingly creative, Canadian writer Anne Carson boldly repurposes a variety of literary forms in the service of finding (or creating) vehicles appropriate to the task of expressing her unique ideas. Intermingling her personal experiences—the deaths of both her brother and mother, a painful separation from a spouse—with her scholarly examinations—everything from the notion of what is unspoken in Paul Celan's poetry to a highly ironic recasting of Hector from the Trojan War as an actor on a film shoot in Death Valley—Carson allows herself room to range as freely as she needs to. Though primarily considered a poet, Carson has written scholarly essays, albeit in her own highly stylized voice. She's also boldly updated translations of classical Greek plays and poetry, and has recently collaborated with choreographers in presenting performances of her work. In the opinion of her detractors, this irrepressible urge is pointed out as being symptomatic of a basic shallowness in her approach—however, the power of her work lies in her fearlessness, and in the ways she balances this with her obvious love of and devotion to the words and works of those who have come before her.