plaint.Prosperity that the golden Muses
gave me was no delusion:
dead, I won't be forgotten -Sappho
Invoking the Tenth Muse: Jeanette Winterson's Construction of a Post Modern Sappho
Her body is an apocrypha. She has become a book of tall stories, none of them written by herself. Her name has passed into history. Her work has not. Her island is known to millions now, her work is not. Jeanette Winterson
SAPPHO
600 BC
I
have no complaint.
Prosperity that the golden Muses
gave me was no delusion:
dead, I won't be forgotten -Sappho
Who was Sappho? The name conjures up a thousand images constructed over 2600 years by those intrigued with her legacy. She is far more than a lyric voice from the past or a symbol of lesbian desire. Sappho has become a legend and myth that overwhelms her poetry. Sappho was discovered for her poetry; she became famous for being a lesbian. The very term is taken from her famous island home, Lesbos. As Sappho scholar Margaret Reynolds writes, Sappho may or may not have been a lesbian, but she was certainly a Lesbian. Regardless of the true story behind Sappho of Lesbos, numerous historians, writers, and others have been called to the tenth muse and continue to be. The relevant question is not, Who was Sappho, but rather Who is Sappho? Jeannette Winterson is one contemporary writer fascinated by Sappho or rather what Sappho has become. Sapphos literary influence is evident Wintersons poetic prose but most relevant is her portrayal of characters bearing the poets name in The Poetics of Sex or the actual narration of passages by Sappho herself in the postmodern novel Art&Lies. Through her writing, Winterson constructs a postmodern interpretation of Sappho, using not only the poets own fragmented writings but the myths and legends that have evolved around her. By mimicking the poets style, incorporating allusions, and her myth, with creative use of magical realism, Winterson creates a unique perspective which allows the poet to speak, and discuss her own legacy. This Sappho represents both fiction and reality, incorporating both to present a true representation of who Sappho has become. Winterson is an author who enjoys telling stories, and though her representations of Sappho are stories they present a new and different perspective of who she is and how her legacy should be understood.
Links to explore Sappho and the Sapphic Legacy:
www.lesbian.org/sappho-project