Review_Author: Lynn Navarra
Book_Author: Erica Jong
Book_Title: Sappho's Leap
Reference: 2003, 500 FifthAvenue, New York, NY 10110 New York N.Y. Norton & Company
Date: 10/18/2003
Time: 7:26:05 PM
Remote Name: 205.188.209.8
Sappho’s Leap Written By: Erica Jong Reviewed By: Lynn Navarra Ominous clouds swirl, oceans explode with the clash of deafening waves, Amazons mutilate themselves in the name of a warrior’s quest, a mother kidnaps her own granddaughter, an inebriated husband staggers to his bed, The Land of the Dead reveals itself and helpless screams are heard, brothers become slaves to the many tricks of whores, family fortunes are lost and attempted to be bought back again with the thin coin of wit, serpents are made from the flesh of men, young girls are seduced and babies are sacrificed, war is on the horizon and ignorant kings and their follies rule absolute power, whole societies hang on the thread of words and time steals away the beauty of youth. And all the while, there is love. There is poetry. There is song and the song floats on the wings of love from Greece to Egypt and back again. There is Sappho, who recites her poetry, plays upon her lyre and sings her songs while the gods lounge on a cloud to place bets on who will taste victory; The turbulent state of mortal circumstances, where the unexpected can stop a beating heart with no more strain than that of an apple falling from a tree; or will the victor be the world’s beloved Sappho? Sappho - that ancient, passionate creator of the silk net that captured love in her eternal verse – that poetic queen whom Plato once referred to as his “muse.” Can love really conquer all? Is love the stuff the universe was made with? If you are a gambler (and aren’t we all just by rising from our beds each morning?) then between the pages of this book, you will find a mystical casino where the possibilities of both absolute ruin and exalted triumph are seemingly endless. Sappho lived and wrote on the Isle of Lesbos, Greece, 2600 years ago. Famous for her poetry, often erotic and directed at women, fragments of her work still survive but very little is known about her life. Erica Jong, who gave us Fear of Flying in 1974, demonstrates once again her fearless talent in fabricating an historical epic of Sappho’s life and the ancient world in which she lived. Legend has it that Sappho leaped to her death over the unrequited love of a younger man. Jong’s story begins here, with Sappho climbing to the top of the mountain, spouting out who she is and how her journey has brought her to this end, while she climbs further up the slippery topography. At this point, she is an “obscene” fifty years old and declares: “Only witches live to be fifty! Good women die in childbirth at seventeen as I nearly did.” Once she reaches the top, she holds life and death in the balance by tauntingly rocking back and forth and “Since at every moment of our lives we stand on the brink of eternity,” Jong’s Sappho declares; “this is as good a place as any to start the story of my life.” And what a story it turns out to be – full of adventure, drama, heartbreak, triumph, tragedy, irony, defeat and victory, and what would Sappho be without splashes of unabashed sex and seduction? Sappho’s Leap is a story where at every turn the gods Aphrodite and Zeus create a new set of temptations, another test, and another circumstance to consider. Their commentary is craftily written and adds to the suspense of the book. It is packed with humor and life lessons along the way and will leave you anxious to find out what happens in the end, yet with every turn of another page, you’ll wish that there was more papyrus to flip over. Incidentally, Sappho lets us know upfront that to understand her is to understand Aphrodite. And, in the process, you may find a rekindled interest in Greek mythology. In the telling of Sappho’s life story, Jong paints a vivid, bucolic portrait of Greece Lesbos where we are introduced to a teenaged Sappho. Her household consists of her mother, her stepfather, and because they are aristocrats, she has her own honey-colored slave girl named Paxinoa, who is not only her servant and companion, but also her lover. Here, in this picturesque paradise, she meets and falls in love with a beautiful young warrior poet named Alcaeus who, like any rebel boyfriend against the father of a worthy daughter, is quickly banished from Lesbos and Sappho finds herself married off, in the name of respectability, to an old, yet wealthy drunk. After giving birth to Alcaeus’ love child, Sappho’s mother kidnaps the baby, thus putting her on the path of a lifelong search for both her daughter and the love of her life. Along her journey, she travels far and meets many sorted and eclectic societies of people, all seemingly on their own journeys. Yet for the better part of her trip, Sappho is accompanied by Aesop, the fable maker, from who’s lips, fluently trickles nuggets of ageless wisdom on how one grows to live and how one learns to die. The story encompasses many facets of life using Sappho, the love poet, as a super-charged vehicle, capable of racing along any modern highway. Jong explores the harsh realities of conformity and the banality of an unchallenged existence. It is through Sappho, she directs us to how life, lived outside those barriers, can bring about adventure, independence and a stoic exuberance where the spice of life is sweetened by the sheer willingness to challenge the misfortunes the gods hand us. Jong has added an afterword that explains why, even across the many centuries, Sappho’s words remain relevant and how, while on her own journey, she decided to write this book. As a result, Sappho’s Leap is one you won’t regret taking. Reviewed By: Lynn Navarra
Review_Author: New Jersey
Book_Author: Virginia
Book_Title: Minneapolis
Reference: Virginia
Date: 2/28/2007
Time: 3:28:32 PM
Remote Name: 61.240.111.196
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