A Voice Restored: Louise Labé's Impersonation of Sappho

Authors

Phyllis Brown, Santa Clara UniversityFollow

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

1999

Publisher

Fairleigh Dickinson UP (AUP)

Abstract

Ever since the publication of her Œuvres in 1555, Louise Labé's name and poetic voice have been closely linked with the name, voice, and identity of the ancient Greek poet Sappho. Labé's contemporaries called her the "Sappho Lyonnaise," and Labé names and alludes to Sappho at several points in her writings. For example, in Labé's first elegy the persona specifies that Apollo has given her the lyre which was accustomed to sing about lesbian love and which would at the same time cry about hers.

Chapter of

The Author as Character: Representing Historical Writers in Western Literature

Comments

Reprinted by permission of the author and Associated University Presses.

Recommended Citation

Brown, Phyllis. "A Voice Restored: Louise Labé's Impersonation of Sappho." The Author as Character: Representing Historical Writers in Western Literature. Ed. Paul Franssen and A. J. Hoenselaars. Madison: Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 1999. 80-92.