modern setting (hockey practice, buses, baby sitters) creates a particularly Carsonian effect: the paradox of distant closeness. Reception Autobiography of Red was warmly received by authors and critics, with highly positive reviews from Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje, Susan Sontag, among others. The book also sold unusually well for literary poetry, with at least 25,000 copies sold by the year 2000, two years after its publication. It was described as "one of the crossover classics of contemporary poetry: poetry that can seduce even people who don't like poetry" and Carson herself as "that rarest of rare things, a bestselling poet." The book was referenced, alongside Carson's previous work Eros the Bittersweet, in a 2004 episode of The L Word. References External links New York Times Magazine on Anne Carson 1998 Canadian novels 1998 fantasy novels Canadian fantasy novels Verse novels Novels with gay themes Canadian romance novels Alfred A. Knopf books Classical mythology in popular culture LGBT speculative fiction novels Canadian LGBT novels 1990s LGBT novels LGBT poetry Bildungsromans Novels set in Buenos Aires Novels set in Peru English-language novels LGBT literature in Canada