Mary Barnard brought Sappho into 20th century, infusing the lusty ancient Greek with ‘cutting clarity’ of Pacific Northwest
Updated Mar 08, 2021;
Facebook Share
Mary Barnard Sappho.
Sappho, of course, is the ancient Greek lyric poet whose charged words turned her name and homeland into adjectives for forbidden love.
And it was Barnard, a Vancouver, Wash., native and Reed College graduate, who finally gave those words life in the English language, in the process remaking both the work and how it was popularly viewed.
Her “Sappho: A New Translation,” published in 1958, was a “big deal, because it was so beautiful,” Sappho scholar Diane Rayor says. “It brought Sappho to people who never would have read her, in this handy little affordable book. It allowed people to fall in love with Sappho.”