My idea was not that Sappho be outrageously, and wonderfully bawdy in the way of Catullus - tho I may have implied that - it is more that I find her translations kind of hold back, or restrain Sappho from a fuller, on occasion, shaggier release of her temper. When she is deeply betrayed, I suspect she really fumed in a larger way
Yes, I know and like Carson's Eros book and respect her erudition, even some of her own poems where, similarly, I think she can also be a study in restraint 'to a fault.' But that's a bigger discussion and I am not prepared to go there with Carson.
Stephen V
http://stephenvincent.net/blog/
--- On Mon, 4/12/10, Alison Croggon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Alison Croggon <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: New translation of the new Sappho
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Monday, April 12, 2010, 5:10 PM
Thanks Uche. And what a gorgeous hymeneal, Catherine!
The first Sappho I read was Mary Barnard, and I still admire the grace
of those translations. Diane Rayor's Sappho's Lyre (an anthology of
all the then extant fragments of archaic lyric and women poets) was a
revelation though. Something in those fragments - I suppose like
looking at the remnants of Greek sculpture - where the imagination
forms across a gulf of absence. Those glimpses still speak so vividly.
"I have a beautiful child, her form / like golden flowers, beloved
Kleis / whom I would not trade for all of Lydia..."
I don't think Sappho was bawdy so much as erotic, Stephen. Anne Carson
is certainly no prude, and she is a formidable scholar. Her
translations of the Oresteia (and the essays that go with them) are
revelatory. Do you know her book Eros the Bittersweet? A beautiful
meditation on the erotics of language, and well worth getting hold of.
xA
On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 9:25 AM, Brian Hawkins <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I can understand being haunted by the first stanza, but it's the last, in this version, that I really like. Greaved in gold! What a lovely phrase! And the three "-old"s, and the door-closing finality of the three heavy beats of "iron-beaked ship".
>
> Brian
>
> --- On Mon, 12/4/10, Alison Croggon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: Alison Croggon <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: New translation of the new Sappho
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Received: Monday, 12 April, 2010, 7:47 AM
>
> Thanks Uche.
>
> That reminds me that the final word in my four-volume fantasy series
> comes from Sappho. (Supposedly a translation from from an older
> version by one of my characters). I kind of liked smuggling her in:
> and I don't think she would have minded. My version below.
>
> xA
>
> Some say an army of horsemen
> some an army on foot
> others say ships laden for war
> are the fairest things on earth.
>
> But I say the fairest sight
> on this dark earth
> is the face of the one you love.
>
> Nor is it hard to understand:
> love has humbled the hearts
> of the proudest queens.
>
> And I would rather see you now
> stepping over my threshold
> than any soldier greaved in gold
> or any iron-beaked ship.
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 3:30 AM, Uche Ogbuji <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Dropping a note to mention my translation of Sappho's Tithonus lyric.
>>
>> http://copia.posterous.com/notes-on-my-sappho-translation
>>
>> The poem itself is here, this week's poetry feature at The Nervous
>> Breakdown:
>>
>> http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/sappho/2010/04/sappho-and-old-age/
>>
>> I'm also curious whether any list members were at the Association of Writers
>> and Writing Programs conference, which was nearby to me in Denver this
>> weekend. Of course I probably should have asked before the conference.
>>
>> http://www.awpwriter.org/conference/
>>
>> --
>> Uche Ogbuji http://uche.ogbuji.net
>> Founding Partner, Zepheira http://zepheira.com
>> Linked-in profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ucheogbuji
>> Articles: http://uche.ogbuji.net/tech/publications/
>> TNB: http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/author/uogbuji/
>> Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/uche
>> Twitter: http://twitter.com/uogbuji
>> http://www.google.com/profiles/uche.ogbuji
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
> Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
> Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
>
>
>
>
>
--
Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
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