Nonetheless, this reading of 51 has only scratched the surface of the complexities and circuitous routes of responsive understanding this poem contains. For, in this same alteration of Sappho's original can also be seen still another motif of Catullus' poetry, which can be tracked throughout the collection, and which constitutes one of the primary thematic elements organizing it as a whole: that of sex-role reversal.30 A precise parallel to Catullus' intertextual alteration of expected sex-roles in 51 can thus also be seen in poem 70's relation to its original, Callimachus' eleventh epigram, wherein the passive and active roles played by Catullus and Lesbia respectively in 70 are reversed in Callimachus' original.31 There the man, Callignotis, is active, and the girl, Ionis, is passive. Likewise, in poem 68, Catullus compares his own need to overlook Lesbia's infidelities with that of Juno's ignoring the omnivoli plurima furta Jovis.32 And this thematic element of the collection, in turn, can be seen as adding yet another ironic level to Catullus' use of the name Lesbia for Clodia, inasmuch as it was widely thought in antiquity (probably correctly) that Sappho was a Lesbian in both senses of the word. As such, she could have easily been thought of as usurping the masculine role (did not Horace refer to her as mascula Saffo?), and hence within the binary logic of conventional Roman sexual relations: if Catullus was on the receiving end of Lesbia's infidelities, he would thus naturally be in the woman's or at least the effeminate position.33
There is still considerable dispute over whether the texts originally published under the names of Volosinov and Medvedev were: a) in reality written by Bakhtin; b) heavily influenced by him; or c) rejoinders in a dialogue in which he was influenced by the others as much as he influenced them. All commentators agree, however, that there are numerous and striking similarities between the works of the members of the Bakhtin circle. The main areas in which there remain disputes about the compatibility of the theoretical positions elaborated in these works are: whether Bakhtin shared the latter two's Marxism; and whether Medvedev and Volosinov can be said to think in terms of closed, binary oppositions, while Bakhtin can be said to prefer open dialogized pairs. Neither of these problems has a direct bearing on my argument. Thus I shall consider the various works of the Bakhtin circle as all part of the same discourse, even if they were not all written by the same author. In my citations, I use the names under which the texts were published in English. For more views on this debate, see Morson and Emerson 1990.11, 77, 102, 104, 106-07, 111, 118-19, 124-25, 161-62, 479 ns. 6-7; Holquist 1990.8; Todorov 1984.11; Bakhtin/Medvedev 1985.vii and ix.
superior girl 1984.11
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Parker adduces as parallels for the way in which the ancient commentators would have misread Sappho's lesbianism the virile portrayal of tribades in Roman literature (Hallett 1989, cited by Parker 321 n.24) and Lucian's similar representation of a homosexual woman from Lesbos in Dialogues of the Courtesans 5 (referred to by Parker top, p. 322). These portrayals of lesbian women are actually our best evidence against the supposition that the ancient commentators misconstrued the age of the subjects in Sappho's poetry. If Sappho indeed spoke about adult women in her poetry, as Parker assumes, there is no reason why Roman or Hellenistic poets and scholars had to change them into girls: as Lucian shows, they were perfectly well capable of imagining a woman from Lesbos in hot pursuit of other adult women.
Maximus compares Sappho's amorous relationship with Gyrinna, Atthis, and Anactoria to those of Socrates with Alcibiades, Charmides, and Phaedrus. About all three women, whom I believe to be girls, some erotic-sounding fragments are preserved: Gyrinna (=Gyrinno?): fr. 82a; Atthis: 49.1, 96, 131, cp. test. 2 and 19; Anactoria: frs. 16, cp. test. 19.
One should add the many names of persons whom the testimonia identify as girls: Anactoria (fr. 16, cp. test. 2?, 19, 20), Gongyla (fr. 22, 95, cp. test. 2, fr. 213), Megara (fr. 68a, cp. test. 2), Atthis (frs. 49.1, 96.17, 131, cp. test. 2, 19 and 20).
Although it is hard to say how much of the song is missing, we may have the essential narrative elements more or less intact: the herald Idaeus's announcement of the impending arrival of Hektor and Andromache along with his description of the bridal trousseau; the reaction of Hektor's father, King Priam; the spread of the news throughout Troy and the consequent preparations on the part of the women, girls, and young men; and, finally, the scene of celebration at the end involving musical instruments, incense, and everyone singing the praises of the bride and groom.
While such instances of bantering raillery may have been a common feature of Sappho's hymeneals (as indeed they are in later Greek examples of the genre), other scraps of the wedding songs seem to emphasize the beauty of the bride or the poignancy of the impending loss of her girlhood status. Perhaps the most vivid example is the following fragment, which was evidently once part of a song in which the groom was likened to the hero Achilles. The meter is appropriately the dactylic hexameter of Homeric epic: 2ff7e9595c
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