Journal | Lexis
Journal issue | Num. 42 (n.s.) – Dicembre 2024 – Fasc. 2
Research Article | Greek Lyric Fragments in Margaret Goldsmith’s Sappho of Lesbos
Greek Lyric Fragments in Margaret Goldsmith’s Sappho of Lesbos
Abstract
Sappho of Lesbos. A Psychological Reconstruction of Her Life (1938) by Margaret Leland Goldsmith (1894-1971) receives little attention in accounts of Sappho’s modern reception. This is despite the novel’s close engagement with Sappho’s corpus at a pivotal moment in the transmission of her text, when for the first time a substantial number of papyri containing her poetry had been published, edited, and translated. After contextualising and summarising the novel, this article examines Goldsmith’s relationship with the chief source of the many fragments of Greek lyric poetry which she cites (chiefly, but not exclusively, by Sappho): J.M. Edmonds’s Loeb edition. Goldsmith’s divergences from this source are analysed; so too is the impact on her novel of Edmonds’s liberal approach to the supplementation of fragmentary papyri. A codicil considers Goldsmith’s depiction of the lyric poet Stesichorus, a rare instance of the reception of that poet, which is compared to the use of his works, decades later, by Anne Carson; again, the publication and supplementation of papyri plays a crucial role.
Submitted: April 30, 2024 | Accepted: Sept. 24, 2024 | Published Dec. 16, 2024 | Language: en
Keywords Sappho • Loeb Classical Library • Margaret Goldsmith • Anne Carson • Stesichorus • Translation • Papyri • Greek literature
Copyright © 2024 Patrick J. Finglass. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/Lexis/2724-1564/2024/02/010
