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sockielady's review
3.0
Not quite what I was expecting it to be. I thought there would be more focus on Sappho herself -- her life, her works. Only the very beginning is about that. The rest of the book focuses on how Sappho was seen through the eyes of scholars, writers, artists, and society in general through the centuries, with many examples of poetry, prose, and visual art inspired by Sappho. Not a bad book in its way, just not what I expected.
itsahavartiparty's review
3.0
An interesting history of Sappho's evolving legacy over the millennia since her death. I'm on a bit of a Sappho kick this year and this was very illuminating. Just a note: very little is actually known about Sappho-- no primary documents from her lifetime survive today-- so this is much more about how she's been mythologized rather than about her as a person. Also I definitely wouldn't recommend this as an introductory text. I started with If Not, Winter and then moved on to several history podcast episodes (the Stuff You Missed in History Class episode is very good).
ariellogram's review
5.0
Love this. Love this, love this. I hadn't read much Sappho before picking this up, knowing her mainly as "that one lesbian Greek poet", so this was really an educational experience (in a good way!). It starts with analyses of Sappho's poetry, given in the original Greek, then with translations ranging from poets across the centuries (quite literally); it's followed by perceptions of her throughout time, as each generation discovered her and recreated her into something new for their time period. What I found the most interesting was how varied the translations were; some of them forced her verse into the patterns of whatever poetic form was popular at the time; some (most?) erased the bisexual/lesbian/generally queer aspects of her work entirely; some stayed true to the original theme as closely as they could, while taking artistic liberties of their own. It was a fascinating glimpse into Sappho and the psyches of her adherents over time. I kind of loved it, if you couldn't tell.
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