on 14/7/01 1:09 PM, Candice Ward at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Thanks, Jill--this _is_ interesting (as always with Carson), more
> interesting than my question, admittedly. But I'd still like to know if the
> widespread position on the "you" addressed as presumptively female is based
> on case or is just another case of patriarchal androcentric dirtymindedness.
Sapphos' sexual preferences, so to speak, are a matter of much debate. There
is the apocryphal story of her unrequited passion for a ferryman named Plaon
which led to her suicide. Some later Greek fragments claim she was "a lover
of women" or similar (often in scandalised tones, I believe). There is, of
course, Ovid's poem Epistle of Sappho and Phaon where she apparently gives
up her previous ("shameful"?) liaisons with women for the love of a man.
Modern scholars seem to go either way (as you do) and one popular theory was
that she was in charge of young girls (sort of a head teacher, boarding
house mistress sort of role) and, as we know, lots of small-l lesbians like
to claim her.
Someone with better Greek than me could maybe say if the 'you' is female.
Certainly Carson, who is a classics scholar, treats the 'you' as female, as
a young girl.
Cheers,
Jill
_________________________________
Jill Jones
50 Ruby Street
Marrickville NSW 2204
AUSTRALIA
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http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~jpjones
