From The New Yorker
What if the poet Sappho had paused to tell the story of her life in the moment before her legendary leap from the cliff? It's a neat premise, and the grab bag of brilliant bits that is all we know of Sappho's life might, in defter hands, have been fashioned into shimmering whole cloth. Instead, we get a windy, chaotic tale, which owes more to Bob Guccione's "Caligula" than to classical scholarship (sample chapter headings: "Aesop at the Orgy," "The Binding of the Babe"). Jong can't resist turning Sappho into a sandal-shod Isadora Wing, careering from one rapt, cartoonish embrace to another while occasionally crooning verses that as an imitation of Sappho's ravishing, elusive poetry are hopelessly inadequate.
Copyright © 2005
The New Yorker
From AudioFile
In this fictional "memoir", Erica Jong brings the exotic Greek poet Sappho to life. Jong's passionate voice rivals that of Sappho herself. In the telling of the story, Jong also brings a good deal of knowledge of the gods and goddesses worshipped in early Greece. Jong's voice changes as each character contributes his or her part in the telling of Sappho's memoir. Not to be missed by those who have whispered Sappho's poems in moments of desire. R.S.E. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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