Preface Note on Sappho's Texts Introduction The Legend Papyrus into Print Poetry and Politics Sexuality and Ritual The Songs Reading Notes Illustration Credits Index
Margaret Williamson is Senior Lecturer in Classical Studies, St. Mary's University College, University of Surrey.
In a taut and lucid discussion, Williamson traces the vicissitudes
and vagaries that characterize the survival of [Sappho's]
work...Her careful and informative studies of individual poems
produce a flesh-and-blood poet, who moves from girlhood to
maturity, encompassing the ages of woman in her works. -- Josephine
Balmer * The Independent [UK] *
A lucid and sensitive study. [Williamson] introduces the reader to
the pleasures of Sappho's songs, and explores the problems that we
face in reconstructing the culture which produced them. -- Penelope
Murray * Times Literary Supplement *
Truly impressive. Sappho's Immortal Daughters will bring
Sappho to life for the uninitiated and offers a number of original
insights about Sappho's poems that will, no doubt, engage the most
learned readers of Sappho. -- Ellen Greene * Bryn Mawr Classical
Review *
Sappho's Immortal Daughters, a lucid book which assumes no
specialist knowledge in the reader, sets out to recover something
of the authentic Sapphic voice from the mythologizations and
distortions...which have affected her reputation since
antiquity...This is a persuasive book which culminates in some
delicate readings of Sappho's fragmentary but resonant words. *
Greece and Rome *
Williamson's lucid and absorbing study successfully presents what
can be known about the cultural context of Sappho's life and work.
Using social, political, and literary materials that influenced and
reflect Sappho's experience, the author reconstructs the atmosphere
in which Sappho lived, breathed, and worked. * Choice *
In a beautifully produced and illustrated book, [Williamson] traces
the history of Sappho's survival, seeks to locate her within a
specific cultural and historical milieu, and offers perceptive
discussions of most of the major poems...This is a thoroughly
worthwhile book. -- Richard Hunter * JACT Review *
Williamson...has produced a useful introduction to Sappho as a
cultural artifact, aiming her book primarily at those who are not
advanced students of classical literature. The book is
valuable...for its summaries--all presented in relatively
jargon-free, digestible form--of the major trends in the scholarly
debates surrounding the figure of Sappho. -- Jane McIntosh Snyder *
Helios *
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