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Passionate and breathtaking, Sappho's poems survive only in fragments following religious conspiracies to silence her. Sappho penned immortal verse on the intense power of the female libido; on the themes of romance, love, yearning, heartbreak, and personal relationships with women. This work retains the standard numerical order of the fragments and has been arranged in six sections. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Fragments of beauty & passion
It's frustrating & infuriating to realize that most of Sappho's work is lost to the ages, burned by the small-minded & intolerant. Yet what little remains is stunning in its directness, its clarity, and its celebration of both the joys & pain of love. Reading these poems is like sifting through a handful of glittering golden fragments, each one hinting at the full beauty of what's been lost. Even so, the splinters of a single line are often more intense & moving than the complete poems of others. And in a way, the fragments invite the reader into the act of creation, making us struggle to glimpse the rest of the poem.

This is a fine edition, with informative but never pedantic notes, and a basic introduction to the poet & her world. The material on translation will make the reader appreciate just how difficult a task it can be, and just how much artistry the translator must bring to the work. Most highly recommended!

Whoo!
I love saPpho! Stuffin cake in my mouth..Feelin the sexual feelings..A LeSbo historical figure writin Lesbian poetry and we get to see the historicity..Well Blow me dOwn as Popeye says..

Beautiful and well-researched.
The fragments themselves are quite beautiful, but I found the commentary much more interesting. Since so little is known about the subject, the translator provides notes along with each fragment that lets the reader know from where the fragment came. The commentary also includes citations from many writers of Greek lyric poetry. The result is not a work that gives one man's perspective of Sappho but a work that says: "here -- this is what scholars today say about Sappho and her native Greece." The book also includes an interesting essay by the translator, cute sketches, and a glossary of people and places.

Greatest lyric poet of Greece
Sappho was the greatest lyric poet of Greece, and any modern reader of her poetry can easily see why.Although she admittedly suffers in translation, one must learn to ignore the frustration caused by the occasional awkwardtranslation.One must also try to ignore the fragmentary nature of herpoems.There was once a definitive edition which consisted of nine books,but it was burned in hte Middle Ages because of the lesbian love poems. The poems we have now are just papyrus fragments or quotations.However,even in English, even with only a few extant pieces, Sappho's poetry isvibrant and beautiful. ... Read more

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Today, thousands of years after her birth, in lands remote from her native island of Lesbos and in languages that did not exist when she wrote her poetry in Aeolic Greek, Sappho remains an important name among lovers of poetry and poets alike,.Celebrated throughout antiquity as the supreme Greek poet of love and of the personal lyric, noted especially for her limpid fusion of formal poise, lucid insight, and incandescent passion,today her poetry is also prized for its uniquely vivid participation in a living paganism. Collected in an edition of nine scrolls by scholars in the second century BC, Sappho's poetry largely disappeared when the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople in 1204.All that remained was one poem and a handful of quoted passages .A century ago papyrus fragments recovered in Egypt added a half dozen important texts to Sappho's surviving works.In 2004 a new complete poem was deciphered and published.By far the most significant discovery in a hundred years, it offers a new and tellingly different example of Sappho's poetic art and reveals another side of the poet, thinking about aging and about the transmission of culture from one generation to the next. Jim Powell's translations represent a unique combination of poetic mastery in English verse and a deep schlolarly engagement with Sappho's ancient Greek.They are incomparably faithful to the literal sense of the Greek poems and, simultaneously, to their forms, preserving the original meters and stanzas while exactly replicating the dramatic action of their sequences of disclosure and the passionate momentum of their sentences.Powell's translations have often been anthologized and selected for use in textbooks, winning recognition among discerning readers as by far the best versions in English. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Lombardo's only Rival!
This new translation hits the arrow on the bullseye!

Jim Powell has created Sappho anew, in these fresh and vibrant translations.The print is the most aesthetically pleasing I've come across!

This little palm size collection contains every major poem and fragment of Sappho's (except the one word etc. un-intelligible fragments).It also contains the newly discovered complete poem of LP 58.

I prefer these complete renderings than many of the other complete ones I've compared them to:Anne Carson, Paul Roche, Willis Barnstone, David Campbell, Martin West and Mary Barnard.

As much as I love Powell's translations and edition, there is none (in my opinion) that supercedes the versions of Stanley Lombardo (on Hackett).

I always think that it's important to have at least two different editions in order to compare, and this new mini oxford edition does just that much much more! ... Read more

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The history of sexuality is a subject of increasing importance in the interpretation of past attitudes. Yet historians have only recently begun to study sexual practices and to establish that sexuality is not a biological constant but an ever-changing phenomenon, continuously being shaped by people themselves. Few sexual attitudes are immutable, and incest, homosexuality, pornography, and masturbation, for example, have been the subject of widely differing opinions at different periods of history. The contributors bring their expertise in ancient as well as medieval history, anthropology, modern history, and psychology to bear upon the history of sexuality. They explore various aspects of sexuality in successive periods: pederasty and lesbian love in antiquity, incest in the Middle Ages, sexual education during the Dutch Republic, voyeurism in the rococo, prostitution in Vienna around 1900, and the invention of sexology. This book should be of interest to students and teachers of history, sociology, cultural studies and social work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An overlooked, but excellent, modern tragedy in verse.
This is one of the most remarkable, thought provoking, profound, and-- to put it bluntly-- gut wrenchingly tragic plays I have ever read.This great play seems to have been relegated to obscurity because it was written inverse by an outsider to theatre who's much better known as a novelist.Inthe immediately post World War II era, the pathos of the times found moreof a theatrical voice in absurdism.While this play takes essentially thesame dark philosophical view with very modern ideas, its verse style andancient Greek setting must have seemed outdated. It probably smelled toomuch of literature and poetry to attract interest then.I sincerely hopeit eventually will be resurrected and given the recognition that I feelit's due; for I continue to get more out of it at each reading, and I woulddearly love to see it staged.

Set in 7th century B.C. Lesbos, the play isa very complex interaction of many characters who each represent differentattitudes concerning the nature of the world at large and the role of theindividual within that world.Some are proactive; others withdrawn; othersself-centered.All have different ideals, and all become victims of realworld circumstances that they could not foresee.Most of the play is anintricate, engaging, at times poetic and philosophical, at times passionatedialogue on the dilemma of how to live in an imperfect world.The tragedyis felt when even the noblest attempts fail miserably.The play seems toargue that any kind of idealism is hopeless.It is a very dark view, butelegantly and piercingly supported by the development of the plot andcharacters.This is only the main theme.There is much more to the playthan this, and I strongly encourage everyone to read it forthemselves.

Just a quick note to those who appreciate the historicalSappho as a woman who loved other women:the character Sappho in this playhas only male lovers.We know so little about her that, in spite of theevidence of her poetry, this may not be unrealistic.This is in no wayrelevant to what the play is about, and I mention it only to prevent someSappho fans from being disappointed. ... Read more

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This book offers the first interdisciplinary and in-depth study of the cultural practices and ideological paradigms that conditioned the politics of the "reading" of Sappho's songs in the early and most pivotal stages of herreception. In this wide-ranging synthesis, Dimitrios Yatromanolakis investigates visual representations and ancient texts in their synchronic and diachronic multilayeredness to trace the discursive nexuses that defined the making of "Sappho" in the late archaic, classical, and early Hellenistic periods. Offering a systematic analysis of the contextual cues provided by vase paintings and focusing on the sociocultural institution of the symposion, this book explores the intricate modes of the assimilation of Sappho's poetry into diverse social, aesthetic, and performative contexts. Drawing on a number of disciplines, including archaeology, papyrology, and anthropology, Sappho in the Making articulates a new methodological Problematik on the reception of archaic Greek socioaesthetic cultures.

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Reading Sappho considers Sappho's poetry as a powerful, influential voice in the Western cultural tradition. Essays are divided into four sections: "Language and Literary Context," "Homer and Oral Tradition", "Ritual and Social Context", and "Women's Erotics". Contributors focus on literary history, mythic traditions, cultural studies, performance studies, recent work in feminist theory, and more.
A legendary literary figure, Sappho has attracted readers, critics, and biographers ever since she composed poems on the island of Lesbos at the close of the seventh century B.C. Bringing together some of the best recent criticism on the subject, this volume, together with Re-Reading Sappho, represents the first anthology of Sappho scholarship, drawing attention to Sappho's importance as a poet and reflecting the diversity of critical approaches in classical and literary scholarship during the last several decades. ... Read more

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Willis Barnstone has augmented his widely used anthology of the Greek lyric poets with eleven newly attributed Sappho poems, making this the most complete offering of Sappho in English. Two new sections -- "Sources and Notes" and "Sappho: Her Life and Poems" -- provide the student with the classical sources and an appraisal of this greatest of Western women poets.

Barnstone's lucid, elegant translations include a representative sampling of all the significant Greek lyric poets, from Archilochus, in the seventh century B.C., through Pindar ("prince of choral poets") and the other great singers of the classical age, down to the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods. William McCulloh's introduction illuminates the forms and development of the Greek lyric. Barnstone introduces each poet with a brief biographical and literary sketch. The critical apparatus includes a glossary, index, bibliography, and concordance.

Willis Barnstone is professor of Spanish and comparative literature at Indiana University. He is co-editor of A Book of Women Poets from Antiquity to Now, and has translated poetry of Mao Zedong, Antonio Machado, and St. John of the Cross. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Best Manual Of the Greek Lyric
As a student of Greek Lyric poetry, I have spent many an hour in the library pouring over varying translations of many greek lyric poets.This book is by far the most complete, true-to-original book around; it hasnearly all earth's remaining greek lyric from the Lyric Age, and, fankly,Barnstone's poems outstrip others in naked beauty.Those who are lookingfor Sappho--Each translator has thier strong poems and their weak ones,Barnstone, however, is strongest overall.His version of "ToAnaktoria" is my favorite of all Sappho in translation. ... Read more

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In the newly created tradition of the Ancients in Action series, Marguerite Johnson has written a fascinating and accessible account of what remains of the life and works of the Greek poet, Sappho. Sappho's ancient biography is covered in addition to the post-classical accounts of her life, which continue to appear, in a variety of creative and non-creative contexts, in contemporary literature and art. Sappho's poetry, essentially preserved in tantalising fragments, is discussed in a series of thematic chapters that include her religious writings, particularly directed to the goddess of love, Aphrodite; personal interpretations of mythological themes; marriage hymns; and love songs to female companions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Sweet, but short on substance
The book's format had promise: fragments of Sappho's poetry, interleaved with photos of women in love with each other. The editor picked and chose among dozens of translations, presumably to pick the phrasing of each passage that best agreed with the desired mood. Well, this isn't a scholarly text and attribution is given when possible, so that sounds fair enough.

The photos set a warm and romantic mood. Settings include beaches and a faux Japanese scene, but most take place indoors, on lush carpets, in front of a lit fire place, or in a frilly bedroom. The models tend toward a type: most have fair coloring, but all of them seem twenty-ish, slim, and prettied up in hair, nails, and makeup. Clothing, if present, creates a romantic and very feminine look (there's lots of pink). Every scene include a couple or threesome, close and affectionate, but physical expression never goes past hugs and kisses.

Each series of pictures creates a sweet, romantic fantasy. I don't see much under the sweetness, though - real adult loving would probably smudge the makeup, muss the hair, or stain the rug. On the whole, this seems to present a fiction that a male photographer thinks male viewers want to see in lesbian couples, but without actual coupling.

-- wiredweird ... Read more

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Here SAPPHO SINGS in her own words.Ancient phrases become the warp and weave of an intricate tapestry so delicately woven it becomes impossible to distinguish the imported threads from the weaver's own.Readers familiar with the myriad translations of the few fragmented lines of Sappho's work left available to us may recognize a word here or a conjunct there but, as one renowned expert in antiquities discovered, the author has herself become the voice of The Poetess to the extent that invented passages read like newly discovered wonders from the past. ... Read more

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The 10th Muse
Out of a mere handful of facts known about the life of a lyric poet so famous in her lifetime (or shortly after it) that she was known as the 10th Muse, Peggy Ullman Bell has distilled an appropriately lyrical novel of the life of the woman known as The Poetess.
Like certain modern celebrities, Sappho has barely the single title and name: her writing was vivid, deeply personal - and beloved universally, seemingly acknowledged in her lifetime as a woman possessed of an incredible gift for language and music ... or at least, when the universe seemed to encompass those Greek city states of the 6th century BC. She was of a wealthy and prominent family on her home island of Lesbos, she had three brothers, was sent into exile by a political enemy, married a rich merchant of Syracuse, had a daughter and was either a priestess of a cult ministering to women, or ran a finishing-school for upper-crust girls - possibly both - and may have indeed been small, dark and unbeautiful. She seems to have thought of herself as that, although that may be the poet's elevated sense of self-drama and cultivated insecurity speaking out.Out of those sparse threads, the author has woven a brightly colored, and intensely-felt silken web of a tale, bejeweled with description and trimmed with poetical lace.

With a great deal of care, the author has reconstructed that world of Classical Greece; cultured, intellectual and wealthy, a world where skill in rhetoric and music was as valued as skill in war and in mercantile pursuits, where the gods were always just out of sight in the waves of a stormy sea or speaking through the mouths of oracles, and their deeds having left a print on the world around, a world familiar to us in some sense, and yet not. The language is archaic, yet not enough to seem unwieldy or inaccessible, in writing conversation. It is very clear in some respects that the author has not fallen into the sin of "presentism" - that is, presenting a modern world, with characters and concepts just a little dressed up in period garb and accessories. Sappho and her friends, her protectors and fellow poets, her family and her lovers are all vividly of a different world, and the details and the visual sense (as well as auditory and olfactory sense) are derailed, vivid and ultimately convincing. Sappho Sings is well worth the read, a little rich for reading all at once, as a box of very expensive chocolate would be, but a lovely treat for now and again, just for the beauty of description.

Brilliant and Lyrical
Sappho Sings. And so does Peggy Ullman Bell in her lyrical, painstakingly researched, emotionally involving novel about the Poetess of Lesbos.

Will Durant in his "Life of Greece" is quoted as saying that Sappho "called herself Psappha, in her soft Aeolian accent" and Psappha is the name by which she is known through this wondrous novel. Because the title uses the more familiar name, that is the name I shall use.

Many people have heard the name of Sappho but not many know who she was, what she did, or what she was famous for. There is, however, a sadly amusing idea in certain quarters that Sappho was "the founder of Lesbians," to quote someone of my acquaintance. (I didn't know Lesbians were "founded" but I guess that's a different issue.) At any rate, she is associated in modern thought with Lesbians (in the sexual sense, that is, not as in "citizens of Lesbos") and nothing else. Many people don't even know that the Island of Lesbos, in the Aegean Sea, actually exists and is not some mythic legend like Atlantis. I did actually know it existed, but that's the extent of what I knew until I read Sappho Sings.

Though Sappho was a prolific writer of poetry only a few original fragments of her work remain in existence, and it is with these fragments that Bell weaves the mesmerizing tale of an accomplished, passionate woman as real and flawed as any woman alive today.

Bell's vision of Sappho begins with her as a fatherless, feisty teenage girl, small in stature but a lion in spirit, who defies a tyrant and pays for it by being banished from her beloved island home and the adored little brother whose birth took her mother's life. On the miserable journey from Lesbos to Syracuse, Sappho loses her lifelong friend and betrothed, Alkaios, in a storm. She is rescued and "captured"--at least that's her view of it--by Kerkolos, a sea-going, wealthy merchant, who takes her to his home in Syracuse.
He treats her with utmost respect that eventually calms her fears of becoming a slave or concubine, and his gentle ways, so at odds with his appearance, win her over to friendship. They wed, and Sappho gives birth to his daughter. She feels great fondness for him, if not passion, and is grief-stricken and frightened when she finds herself suddenly widowed and at the mercy of her truly horrible mother-in-law.

Eventually Sappho initiated in the rites of the Sisterhood of Iphis and discovers that, though she is capable of physical passion with men, her heart is taken by women. The cast is large; some of the names are vaguely familiar from Ancient History in High School many years ago. I didn't find them very interesting back then. Now they certainly are!

The characters are unforgettable, especially Praxinoa, the nurse and lifelong friend; Lycos, the elegant and somewhat effeminate man whose loving friendship also lasts throughout the book, and the tall, Nubian queen, Gongyla, the love of Sappho's life, a woman who sold herself into slavery to save her people from a similar fate. I will never forget these people who have been my companions for many days.

Bell's knowledge of society and of place seems encyclopedic and yet not overwhelming. The language is just archaic enough in structure that it keeps you grounded in the ancient world but not enough so that it seems overdone. Names are pronounced in footnotes, which is very helpful. Sappho Sings is also the most sensuous book I have ever read: the lush descriptions of place, the elegantly expressed passion of depicted intimacy are poetic without crossing the line into the ludicrous, as sometimes happens when less gifted authors attempt it.

It is simply a wonderful book. It is not a quick and easy read, and it's certainly not a genre romance although love of many kinds permeates the pages. Part of that is the author's love of her subject.

This book should be winning awards. I can't recommend it highly enough.

--Ruth Sims, author of The Phoenix

Author's Note:
Although long dead, Psappha, as Sappho called herself in her own soft Aeolian dialect is and has been the love of my life for over 40 years. In my heart and mind she lives, loves and laughs.

Writing her story has been my profound joy.

Sappho Sings Again
Thanks to the considerable writing talents of author Peggy Ullman Bell, Sappho truly sings again. She sings to the hearts of everyone, women and men of open minds, many centuries after her mortal end, with lyrical intimations of equality, love, and freedom of spirit. In a marvelous tribute to the wonders and depths of true femininity, with a star character that would champion the rights of women if alive today, Bell plucks Sappho out of a male-dominated political era long ago that tried to bury her glory, and brings her back to life for us in the twenty first century. I, for one, say "Brava! ... well done."

Deliciously written, with descriptive language that transports you wholly into another ancient world, author Bell's sensuous, often erotic, tale will grip you and tantalize you with an ever-thickening and twisting plot, staffed with an abundance of characters that come to vivid life in your mind's eye. A truly fine literary work, "Sappho Sings" has a spot reserved in my library for sure.


... Read more

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Scholar, historian, novelist, and professor of classics at the University of Texas (Austin), Peter Green recreates the life and times of the Greek lyric poet Sappho. The surviving fragments of Sappho's poetry reveal a mature woman of unflinching honesty. Sappho and her daily life on the island of ancient Lesbos are brought vividly to life via Green's extraordinary talent. This work was first published in 1965. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Review of Green's 'Laughter'
I was first made familiar with Green's skills as a writer through his more historical works on the age of Alexander. I opened this book with high expectations, and was generally satisfied. The work presents a writer with excellent voice and talent in storytelling. I really appreciate the historical detail of this work (even if occasional oversights occur... can Sappho describe a poker-face?). My one criticism: I thought the sexual element was overplayed; the work is seems first a story of sexual expression, and only then one of a Sappho the poet.

a very pleasureable read
in reading "The Laughter of Aphrodite", i was very pleasantly surprised.generally, i am not a fan of fiction.given how difficult it is for a great many people to accept irrefutable fact, i find it somewhat alarming that an author would intentionally write an entire work of fiction.

but, because i have found several of the classical historian Peter Green's other works to be so worthwhile, and because Plato called Sappho the 10th Muse, i decided to give "The Laughter of Aphrodite" a read.

i am very glad i did.to begin with, Green is an accomplished storyteller.he seamlessly weaves the political and cultural history of the island of Lesbos in the early 6th century BCE with an imaginative construction of Sappho's life from what survives of her poems, and what the ancients themselves wrote about her.and, though i am usually impatient with descriptive detail, i was enchanted by Green's 'proetic' evocations of sights, sounds, and scents ranging from articles in Sappho's bedroom to the Lesbian landscape.

further, i've never read a more convincing account of the emotional relationships between a woman and her relatives, friends, lovers, and adversaries.

further yet, i've never read the equal of Green's account of the internal life an artist.

oh, and as a bonus for the fictive-phobic (such as myself), in the back of this volume there is a chronology that indicates which elements are believed to be historical fact, which are reasonable conjectures, and which are the creative interpolations of the author.

so far, i have gotten 4 friends to (gratefully) read this book.

anatomy of a mid-life crisis
Peter Green has created an insightful portrait of Sappho and the world in which she lived.This first person narrative is written with abundant poetic imagery -- great for giving you the feeling that Sappho is really the author, but not so great for following the storyline.Written by a reminiscing middle-aged Sappho, the plot continually shifts time frames, making it hard to keep up with what's going on. Like fragments of Sappho's poetry itself, the pieces *do* eventually come together, but only after many, many pages of frustrating reading.

One caveat:One of the back cover reviewers describes this as "an explicitly erotic modern novel," and maybe that was true when it was originally published in 1965. What sex there is is far from graphic, although it is sensual. ... .

Extraordinary approach to a fascinating character and time.
I've been touchedby this powerful novel. What amaze me most is the way Sappho's character is revealed in all her plain and complex humanity. Is not a Sappho's personal account only . Besides the novel recreates its world with such authority and ease that makes a real pleasure to read it. ... Read more

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A selection of letters documenting love between women over the last 140 years. These eloquent messages from famous, ordinary or anonymous women range from notes and letters, to postcards and e-mail. Some are thoughtful, others lustful but all express in different ways the power of lesbian love. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

great little book
Although I am not an expert, I am a scholar, and I found this book of poems by Sappho who lived in 700 BC Greece a pleasure to read.I liked the design and layout, and the translation is geared to today's readers.

A translation.
More or less 150 years after Homer's Iliad, Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos west off the coast what is present Turkey. (Due to political upheavel she went two times in exile, the second time to Sicily for a short time ).

Sappho takes a special place among the poets of Antiquity. She was already famous in her own time. Plato said that she was the tenth Muse and someone called her poetry " as refreshing as a morning breeze ". Her poems are vivid and she needs only a few words to describe essential human feelings. She calls solitude for instance " this icy numbness of being alone ".
( Nice to know: from Sappho's poems remain about 500 lines. All Tragedies by Aeschylus have a total of 8144 lines. Conclusion: What's left of Sappho's poems is next to nothing. )

" Wedding of Andromache " is one of the most vivid descriptions in the poetry of Antiquity. It gives an almost journalistic account of the homecoming of Hector and Andromache. A fragment of Barnstone's translation:
" ...
and all set out for Troy
in a confusionof sweet-voiced flutes, citharas,
and small crashing cymbals
and young girls sang a loud heavenly song
..."

Sappho excels also in describing landscapes and nature ( something you don't find often in Ancient literature ). A fragment of " Aphrodite of the flowers ",
"...
Here ice water babbles through the apple branches
and roses leave shadow on the ground
..."

This translation was published in 1998 but as a work of art in itself, it's by no means outdated.

Elegant in its simplicity
This polished translation brilliantly reflects those spare but sparkling lines from the winsome poet of a lonely isle and heart.I find it still superb after many readings.Highly recommended.

Achingly Beautiful
"To Eros:You crush me." The tenderness and splendor of Sappho's poetry has never been so lusciously rendered as in this translation.Every little word sings with love and warmth.Thank you,Willis Barnstone, for omitting the cumbersone ellipses and brackets oftranslations past.Now we can enjoy Sappho's passion undisturbed. ... Read more

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Excellent Guide to understanding one of the Greatest poets
In between Homer and the Classical age there was Sappho. This historical positioning is essential to understanding her, as she is the predominant literary figure between the epics of Homer and the later writers of the Classical age.
Obviously she did not exist in a cultural vacuum, her contemporary, Alcaeus of Mytilene is also known to have been a great poet, he actually flatters her in one of his poems, but by all later accounts, the writers who quote her, and her influence on later poets, even as late asduring the time of the Roman Empire, make it clear that she was the undisputed genius of her age. Genius does not begin to cover her outstanding contribution: She stands alone in ancient culture; there were no Sapphos in Rome, so we pretty much have to wait until modern times in the West to see a woman of such intellectual and artistic transcendence.
Most of what we have from the ancient Greeks and Romans has come down to us in fragmentary conditions. The merit of du Bois is in reading the fragments in a totally refreshing manner, which by the way, was surely the way they were regarded in Sappho's own time when the poems were complete: Each word andsyllable is valuable, and she magnifies them for us through the readings ofexcellent translations, "to read the minimal signs of the fragment with a maximum of energy" as she explains is an idea that was suggested to her by Nietzsche when he referred to Roman poetry, but that she found very useful in reading Sappho. Even those of us who are not familiar with Greek can fully appreciate the work of the poet by applying this method. In an age when all books were manuscripts, most intellectual history was memorized, and recited, every word carried weight, hence the importance of fragmentary remains. Sappho is clearly part of that ancient tradition, and in her day the importance of each word and syllable was much more dramatic than it is in ours, as we are much more familiar with novels as a literary vehicle than poetry.
The chapter "The Aesthetics of the fragment" is a revelation.Here du Bois analyses the words, syllables and metaphors and makes the fragments come to life, and reveal both beauty and an individual, unique way of seeing and feeling. Her sensitive, profound understanding of the beauty of the original transpires throughout, and we really get close enough to understand why this poet was so significant to all poets, and why she was endlessly quoted. Sappho's understanding of sound and the beauty of her metaphor makes her fragments unique jewels that still shine for us today, surely there can be no better compliment for an author. What emerges is clearly a passionate, talented and particularly gifted writer that in a few words can conjure the magic and allure of intense emotion. I for one, feel it essential, after reading this book, to read all that has survived from this poet. This book made me undertand that Sappho was a Michelangelo of words, she constructed beauty so well, that even in pieces her work manages to move and evoke, above all to make us see it her way: through the object of her love or desire.
Page du Bois is not easy to read. Her sentences are charged with thoughts and different, sometimes conflicting viewpoints simultaneously, she quotes an endless amount of erudite investigations and translations, her erudite discourse is at times hard to follow, each chapter contains enough material for a book, but she is always consistently inspiring and exciting, more importantly she really understands her subject well and conveys an utterly fascinating artist in a new light for our time. She illustrates in extensively detailed arguments how Sappho was transgressive, as being a woman, a lover of women, and a poet, she uses language in a completely different manner from the men that preceeded or followed her. The comparisons with Homer are excellent ways of making the point, but she also illustrates how Sappho challenges the whole intellectual construction, of her time and later generations ofmale-centered western culture, right down to our own modern times: the argument against the abscence of Sappho in Foucault's "History of Sexuality" is particularly enlightening in the chapter "Sappho in the history of Sexuality".
This book is an excellent introduction to one of the most significant literary figures of all time. It also illustrates how our understanding and perception of women in a male dominated culture had been distorted in Sappho's time, and continued to be distorted through the centuries, thus making it an important contribution to women studies as well.

A Powerful, Disruptive Challenge to Classicism
Sappho of Lesbos, appropriated in modern times as a classical literary progenitor of sexual transgression, lived and wrote in the 7th century B.C.E. Apart from that fact, however, little is known of her life or thecircumstances in which she wrote and performed her poetry.Indeed, thepoetry itself exists only in fragments.In the words of Page duBois, theauthor of this thought-provoking collection of essays, "[s]he is not aperson, not even a character in a drama or a fiction, but a set of textsgathered in her name."

"Sappho is Burning" presents aseries of close, subtle readings of Sappho's poetry, readings which presenta powerful, disruptive challenge to the traditional Classicist's view ofGreek antiquity. Writing in the period between Homer and the so-called"Golden Age of Greece", Sappho's "lyrical, sensual,emotionally laden textuality" undermines the austerity of Plato andother writers of the ancient Greek canon, disruptingprevailing views ofcultural wholeness and opening a space for difference at the origins ofWestern civilization.

While "Sappho is Burning" is underminedby the author's own propensity for self-characterization ("I am apsychoanalytic female subject, an academic, a Marxist historicist feministclassicist, split, gender-troubled") and occasionally lapses into thethickets of Lacanian jargon, these shortcomings are overcome by thebrilliant insights of four of the essays: "Sappho'sBody-in-Pieces", "Sappho in the Text of Plato","Helen", and "Sappho in the History of Sexuality".Ineach of these essays, duBois, through close readings of the texts of Sapphoand others, persuasively establishes a number of counter-readings toClassicist orthodoxy and, perhaps more significantly, inscribes Sappho inthe history of ancient Greece, the history of Western sexuality, and thepsychoanalytic history of the development of subjective identity.Theultimate effect is to cause the careful reader to re-examine receivednotions of the origins of Western thought and to recognize that "[t]obegin the history of the West with classical Greece and with thephilosophers is a polemical choice." ... Read more

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Product Description
Recent attacks on contemporary art have portrayed the erotic content of works by Robert Mapplethorpe and others as if it were a deviation from the Western artistic tradition. On the contrary, there is a rich tradition of eroticism in the arts beginning with the erotic verse of ancient Greek and Roman poets.

Games of Venus, the first comprehensive anthology in English of ancient Greek and Roman erotic verse, revives this tradition for the modern reader.

Games of Venus presents the whole spectrum of erotic poetry from Sappho to Ovid in translations which evoke the full range of styles and tones present in the original Greek and Latin.

Brief biographical sketches accompany the work of each poet as do notes referring to the myths, geography, historical events, personages, and sexual and social customs mentioned in the verse. ... Read more

Product Description
In their own words, lesbian sisters from many countries explore their relationships with each other. Contributors include Barbara and Dianne Grief, Alix and Julie Dobkin, and Lee and Louise Fleming. ... Read more