Next up is @harvardclassics' Miriam Kamil, whose talk is entitled "Straightening the Classics: The Censorship of Homoeroticism in the traditions of Sappho and Catullus." #teachancient #glassics #phdchat
M begins w some background information on Sappho and notes that, by the 19th c, sapphism becomes a synonym for lesbianism. There is an argument to be made that Sappho's homosexuality was censored even by her contemporaries. Stories started by comedians that she was a prostitute
M: Censoring of homoeroticism or usual attacks on women? Prevailing view now that Sappho's poems lost bc they were written in Aeolic dialect - fell out of favor and stopped being read. It's been suggested that suppression of Sappho's homoeroticism was to make her more "palatable"
Gender of Sappho's beloved consistently changed to male w/o any comment from translators. cf. Ambrose Philips' fr. 31 trans.: beloved changed from "she" to "he" and "goes the extra mile" re "gentle youth" (no mention in original Greek).
John Addington Symons' fr. 31 trans, meanwhile, publishes more faithful translation - which does not catch on. (He was also believed to be openly gay.) cf. Wilamovitz: Sappho as Schoolmistress (😠) - "Whoever associates λεοβιαζειν w love bw girls should refer to the lexicon."
Denys Page 1955: "[T]he theory finds no support whatever in anything worthy of the name of fact." Scholars /eventually/ begin to see some relationships bw Sappho and women but still see her as a teacher.
Another "lamentable" scholar: "Was only natural that Sappho was a schoolteacher bc gay ppl naturally gravitate toward the children they teach" (😠😠). Meanwhile, Natalie Clifford Barney & Renee Vivien emphatically embrace Sappho as a gay woman (even run away together to Lesbos)
M moves on to Catullus: for most of the middle ages, Catullus like Sappho was a p shadowy figure. At first no real issue w homoerotic poetry. Then Politian decides to write about Martial's interpretation of Cat: "That sparrow of Catullus in my opinion allegorically conceals
a certain more obscene meaning which I cannot explain w my modesty intact." Certain and swift backlash: "Good god, has Catullus' body not been treated cruelly enough." Interpretation of sparrow as a moral poem. First instance of homophobic backlash: "If Politian is so obsessed w
the idea of the sparrow as a penis he probably just wants to have sex w Catullus himself." Which leads discussion to Catullus' poems on Juventius. cf. La Chapelle 1707's wild interpretative theory: Juventius is actually a young girl named Crastinia.
Lamb 1821 refers to Juventius as "my Fair" in his translation of Poem 48, erasing homoeroticism entirely. Also in his translation of Poem 24, entitled "To Juventius," Lamb strips out all references to homoeroticism. Crastoun 1987 erases gender of Juventius, ess "castrating" him:
"o loveliest flow'ret! Beauty's peerless queen." Translators either switch the gender of Juventius or characterize the relationship as platonic affection bw friends. Fordyce 1961 last of expurgatory translations of Catullus: cuts out 32(!!!) of 116 poems
Cat. 48 is a "kissing poem" akin to Cat. 5 & 7 -- only part of the poem that gives translators trouble is the address to Juventius. In conclusion: M hopes not to reduce poets to their homoeroticism, but to show how ppl can see themselves in their words.
Finally, a note to translators: it's better to be honest!
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