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Herakles
Ancash is Herakles’s lover when Herakles is in his twenties. He and Herakles are traveling the world recording volcanoes for a documentary about Emily Dickinson when they unexpectedly cross paths with Geryon in Buenos Aires. Ancash is Peruvian and, according to Geryon, “a man as beautiful as a live feather.” He speaks Quechua, an indigenous language spoken in the Andes. His mother hails from Huaraz, a small village located in a volcanic region north of Lima, where he, Ancash’s mother, Herakles, and Geryon later visit. Even though Ancash and Geryon compete for Herakles’s affections, their similarly gentle, introspective dispositions repeatedly put them at odds with bold, extroverted Herakles. Over time, Ancash and Geryon form an intimate, meaningful bond, which persists even after Geryon betrays Ancash by having sex with Herakles. For example, when Ancash unwittingly removes Geryon’s overcoat to reveal Geryon’s red wings, he touches the wings gently rather than recoiling at what Geryon has long considered to be evidence of his monstrosity. Ancash then likens Geryon to the “Yazcol Yazcamac,” or “the Ones Who Went and Saw and Came Back,” mythic beings from indigenous folklore who were thrown into volcanos as sacrifices, only to emerge unscathed, immortal, and spared from death by flying to safety with their powerful wings. Ancash urges Geryon to “use those wings,” a suggestion Geryon follows through with when he flies over the active volcano in Jucu in what is both an act of self-affirmation and an outward display of intimacy with Ancash.
Ancash Quotes in Autobiography of Red
The Autobiography of Red quotes below are all either spoken by Ancash or refer to Ancash. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 18
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I am a drop of gold he would say
I am molten matter returned from the core of earth to tell you interior things
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Chapter 32
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“…I will never know how you see red and you will never know how I see it.”
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Chapter 37
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I’m a master of monsters aren’t I?
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Chapter 38
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What Geryon was thinking Herakles never asked. In the space between them
developed a dangerous cloud.
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Chapter 39
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A volcano is not a mountain like others. Raising a camera to one’s face has effects
no one can calculate in advance.
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Chapter 45
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There is one thing I want from you.
Tell me.
Want to see you use those wings.
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Chapter 46
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This is for Ancash, he calls to the earth diminishing below. This is a memory of our
beauty.
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Chapter 47
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We are amazing beings,
Geryon is thinking. We are neighbors of fire.
And now time is rushing towards them
where they stand side by side with arms touching, immortality on their faces, night at their back.
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Ancash Quotes in Autobiography of Red
The Autobiography of Red quotes below are all either spoken by Ancash or refer to Ancash. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 18
Quotes
I am a drop of gold he would say
I am molten matter returned from the core of earth to tell you interior things
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Chapter 32
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“…I will never know how you see red and you will never know how I see it.”
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Chapter 37
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I’m a master of monsters aren’t I?
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Chapter 38
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What Geryon was thinking Herakles never asked. In the space between them
developed a dangerous cloud.
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Chapter 39
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A volcano is not a mountain like others. Raising a camera to one’s face has effects
no one can calculate in advance.
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Chapter 45
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There is one thing I want from you.
Tell me.
Want to see you use those wings.
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Chapter 46
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This is for Ancash, he calls to the earth diminishing below. This is a memory of our
beauty.
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Chapter 47
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We are amazing beings,
Geryon is thinking. We are neighbors of fire.
And now time is rushing towards them
where they stand side by side with arms touching, immortality on their faces, night at their back.
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