If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho
by Sappho
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Book Summary Information
Author: SapphoTranslator: Anne Carson
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-08-12
ISBN: 0375724516
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho
Book Review: Finding song in the spaces between
Summary: 5 Stars
I happened across this gem in Vancouver, and have been thoroughly delighted (if ashamed at how rusty my sight-reading of Ancient Greek has gotten). "If Not, Winter" is the best presentation of the Sapphic fragments that I've ever read. Careful attention is paid to presentation on the page, with brackets to differentiate between missing parchments and elided quotations. The arrangement is artistic and makes the fragments flow in as close to a lyric format as we're likely to get in English. Although the translator struggles with the classic tension between transparency of the translator through meaning/intent or through presentation exactly as written, I think she strikes a poetically ept balance between them, and gives you the Greek on facing pages in as close to an original representation as possible. It warms my little Classicist heart. Her notation is more complex than the presentation in most Ancient Greek texts, and that took a little getting used to, but the added detail was worthwhile content once I became accustomed to it. Sappho is my favorite lyric poet, and the shining and lucid presentation of her work her only strengthens my opinion of her. I'll be sure to search out Professor Carson's other translations now too.
Summary of If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho
Of the nine books of lyrics the ancient Greek poet Sappho is said to have composed, only one poem has survived complete. The rest are fragments. In this miraculous new translation, acclaimed poet and classicist Anne Carson presents all of Sappho?s fragments, in Greek and in English, as if on the ragged scraps of papyrus that preserve them, inviting a thrill of discovery and conjecture that can be described only as electric?or, to use Sappho?s words, as ?thin fire . . . racing under skin.? By combining the ancient mysteries of Sappho with the contemporary wizardry of one of our most fearless and original poets, If Not, Winter provides a tantalizing window onto the genius of a woman whose lyric power spans millennia.Poetry Books
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