“萨福”：传统中的传统
周 瓒
弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙在某处谈到，英语和法语的文学史上，最早出现的都是一个女诗人。当然，后来，我们读到的文学史，其中，男作家占据了绝对多数的比例，而且，也似乎与此相关，女诗人反倒成了稀有动物。这类稀有动物在由男性书写的文学史上的命运大概有两种，附庸，或是叛逆。比较而言，萨福则超出这两重命运，成了一个被不断重构或虚构的神话。
由于今人对古希腊社会文化历史了解的有限，更由于萨福作品的散佚，关于萨福及其所生活的时代的一切，后人的理解大多掺杂了想象的成分。人们乐于想象一个他们所需要的萨福，而他们的需要却联系着他们最切身和最当时的愿望——一种个人的和时代的限定性。诗人兼学者的田晓菲在其编译的《“萨福”：一个欧美文学传统的生成》（以下简称《“萨福”》）一书中，似乎想要摆脱这种对于萨福的想象方式。一方面，她依据相对可靠的英语译本，进行萨福的汉语翻译；另一方面，在本书长长的“引言”中，她还侧重考察或展示了欧美文学史上的一些诗人、作家和学者们对萨福的、各显所需的重构。田晓菲所做的，大概可以称之为一种拆解和重建并行，或者通过拆解来重建的工作，虽然，后一种说法，用在建筑学上，或许是行不通的。正因如此，在本书的书名中，我们注意到，萨福是被加了引号的。
一旦有引号加诸其上，萨福便成了一个虚拟人物，或许我们不能够用“她”（而只能用“它”）来指代这一个“萨福”了，因为它是一个传统，是一个个被虚构出来的影像，作为插图出没在本书的书页之间。所以，虽然芦纸残片中的萨福支离破碎，但经过重构了的萨福并非一萨福，她是许多，是众萨福。她不仅是上古时代一位伟大的女诗人，被柏拉图誉为的“第十位缪斯”，而且她还是一个热烈的情人，一个“学问渊博的女子”，是母亲和姐妹，是同性之爱的追求者，这在她的诗歌中体现得如此充分，以致于到了现代，她被认为是女同性恋者们的守护神。在欧美文化史上，不断有作家、学者根据个人与所处时代的需要，对萨福的身份认同进行诠释和评价，而且，这些诠释和评价话语之间常常充满了冲突和矛盾，它们致使我们距离那个真实的萨福越来越远了。它们简直要令我们怀疑：存在一个真实的萨福吗？关于这一点，田晓菲说得恰如其分：“因为‘萨福’是一个早就不再属于萨福的名字和符号。‘萨福’和萨福的诗，没有什么关系。在这种情形下，我们惟一应该记住的是：如果没有萨福的诗，‘萨福’也就根本不会存在。”当然，我想说，这不是我们惟一应该记住的，我们要记住的或许更应该是萨福的诗，如今，田晓菲版的这部萨福诗的汉语译本正摆在我的案前，提醒我沿着萨福的诗句去“重构”一个我心目中的“萨福”。
萨福的诗最摄人心魄的元素，是她以一种直接、朴素、简洁而又高贵的形式所传达的激情。且读她被公认的最著名的两首，即本书第一辑所选的第1和第15首。前者写到抒情诗的主人公向爱欲之神阿佛洛狄忒祈祷，“又一次”祈求女神帮她摆脱爱情带来的苦痛和那份“强劲的重负”。全诗共7节，从第1节到第6节之间，有一个微妙的视角转换，即由祈祷者“热切祝求的声音不知不觉地变成了女神阿佛洛狄忒的声音”，因而，在这首诗的中间形成了某种声音的双重性，祈祷者的痴狂和对祈祷者的审视，充分地传达了深陷爱情苦痛之中的诗人的内心矛盾，既狂热又理智，既绝望又充满着希望的交织。对如此复杂微妙的情绪波动，田晓菲没有像别的译者那样，用引号把女神的声音独立出来，而是巧妙地模糊了这种声音转换的痕迹，这就使诗的情绪更直接地呈现诗人的复杂心理变化。第15首描绘了沉浸在恋爱中的人的感受。以爱中人身处三角恋情之中所感所想为主题的诗，大概算不上萨福原创，而且千百年来它也成了文学中的典范主题之一。然而，萨福的描绘却能调动和打通一个阅读者全身的感触：“当我看到你，哪怕只有/一刹那，我已经/不能言语”“舌头断裂，血管里奔流着/细小的火焰/黑暗蒙住了我的双眼/耳鼓狂敲”“冷汗涔涔而下/我颤栗，脸色比春草惨绿”。诚如伍尔芙所言：“读诗是一门复杂的艺术。大脑有很多层次，诗越是伟大，就有越多的层次兴奋起来，跃跃欲试。它们似乎也井然有序。我们读诗读第一遍时使用的是感官功能，开启的是心灵之眼。”所以，或许分析萨福的诗是不必要的，只要我们直接反复地阅读就足够了，而在或长或短的、必要的“译者注”之中，田晓菲也没有对萨福名篇或残章进行过多的读解与评析，而是做了一些联系和比较的工作。这种更具学术色彩的工作反倒更切合于对于诗的阅读和理解。它为我们提供了一种互文语境，不仅令我们意识到对于人类共通的情感，历史上曾有许多诗人或作家都不约而同地以相似的风格表达过，而且，它也多少让我们能够相信“所有伟大的诗歌都由一人所写”（博尔赫斯语意）这样一种颇为禅玄的推断。
《“萨福”》一书的第一辑中所选101首诗，是学者们公认萨福所作诗歌，而第二辑所收的12首，是学者们持怀疑意见的萨福诗作。两辑的选诗，译者均以选择名篇和较完整的篇章为标准。或许，这种稍加严格的、顾全完整性和准确性的，用田晓菲所说的“主观”的选诗标准，反倒更有助于我们领会一个完整的，虽不够全面丰富的诗人萨福。而所选残诗中，空缺的方框和它们旁边的文字，奇妙地形成了一种相互映照的情境，换言之，对于萨福的诗歌，我们仍然需要用想象去填充，她需要我们的再创造，因为她的诗歌体现出一种源头性质。这么说不单意味着，萨福的诗歌本身所具有的生命力和其卓越的艺术普遍性，而且，它也意味着，萨福诗歌所激发的，那个不断由后来者“重构”的传统中，有一部分是值得重视的。尽管在《“萨福”》的第三辑中——关于欧美文学传统中从未中断过的对萨福的再书写，包括以之为题材和从她诗歌中汲取灵感与典故的写作，田晓菲并未突出这一点，但她所列举的那些诗人中，却有一半是女性。因此，我这里要谈到的，是由现代女诗人们致力开创的女性写作传统。
虽然传说中的缪斯们都是女神，加上萨福，总共有十位女性司职古希腊文艺，然而，在一本《古希腊抒情诗选》（水建馥译，人民文学出版社1998年出版）中，我们只读到萨福一位女性的诗歌，其他31位均是男诗人。又传说，萨福在勒斯波斯岛上招收女弟子，向她们传授诗艺和“爱的艺术”，甚至包括美容，可是，我们也没有发现包括她在诗中提及的为她所爱的女子中，有一位曾如萨福一般以诗留名。这不能不说是一件令人困惑的事情。难道说，总体上比较，女性之诗才不及男性么？难道说，萨福有诗才，仅仅是因为她是那个“男子气概的萨福”（古罗马诗人贺拉斯语）么？或者，甚至，是“萨福的性倾向”决定了她不断被“重构”、“重读”的可能么？
所有这些疑惑，在我看来，它们已经并且正在被现代以来的女诗人们，当然也包括一些对女性书写才能赞赏的男作家们破解。从《“萨福”》一书中，编译者选取的欧洲第一位职业女作家克利斯蒂纳·德·比桑（约1364－1429）的《夫人城》（节选）里有关萨福的论述，我们便可以看出，女作家已经开始改写由男性偏见织就的萨福话语。在她心目中，萨福是一位集美貌与才智于一身的“学问渊博的女子”，是不同诗歌题材的发明者，被视为最伟大最著名的诗人之一。对萨福的评价既已发生一种性别话语的颠覆性变化，而另一方面，女诗人们从萨福诗歌中获取灵感的例子则更其普遍。克里斯蒂娜·罗塞蒂、爱米莉·狄金森、麦克·菲尔德、西尔维亚·汤森·华纳与瓦伦汀·奥克兰、H.D.、艾米·洛瓦尔、西尔维亚·普拉斯等欧美女诗人皆从萨福诗歌中获取过营养。这种通过写作延续女性书写传统的方式依然没有终止，在一篇题为《强迫的异性爱和女同性恋的存在》的论文中，美国当代女诗人艾德里安娜·里奇则试图自觉地寻求一种女性书写传统，它隐秘地由被她称之为的“女同性恋连续统一体”的某种文化力量延续和传承下来，正如同“以萨福为中心的妇女学校中闻名遐尔的‘女同性恋者’”以及其他一些妇女群体一样。
但愿此刻我们探讨的话题不是简单地回到本文前面部分的有关“萨福的性倾向”的评判上，因为说到性别视角，在女作家之间确实存在一些隐约的关联性，它们触动了女诗人写作中相关的思维方向和自我意识，比如上文提及的萨福至于各位女诗人们，再比如勃朗宁夫人之于狄金森，简·奥斯汀之于玛格丽特·阿特伍德，萨福之于葡萄牙女诗人索菲亚·德·梅洛·布里奈尔·安德森，当我读到后者的诗句“啜饮月色/神游远方”时马上联想到萨福……如何解释这种女性作家之间的关联性，里奇的方法不失为途径之一种，虽然不免偏狭，或许，我们可以尝试放弃身份认同的便捷路径，从诗歌自身出发，去开掘存在于女性书写者之间更其微妙复杂的精神关联性。而且在这一意义上，我们也将会拥有越来越多的“萨福的姐妹们”，或“莎士比亚的姐妹们”。
- posted on 09/19/2004
http://www.sappho.com/poetry/index_historical.html
Lesbian Poetry
Historical Poetry
Contemporary Poetry
Resources for Poets and Readers
Lesbian Poetry FAQ
Isle of Lesbos: Poetry : Historical
Historical Lesbian Poetry
On these pages you'll find poetry celebrating love between women. Not all poets on the page are lesbians or bisexual women (especially not the men!) and in some cases the orientation of the author is still being disputed by biographers. Please read the poet biographies and consult reference material for more detail as to why a particular poet's work is included in this collection.
Poets are listed in chronological order of birth
Lesbian-Interest Poetry by Women
Sappho, circa 630 BC
Katherine Fowler Philips, 1631-1664
Aphra Behn, 1640-1689
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, 1648-1695
Anna Seward, 1747-1809
Wu Tsao, 19th Century
Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886
Christina Rossetti, 1830-1894
Matilda Betham-Edwards, 1836-1919
"Michael Field" (aka Katherine Bradley, 1848-1914 & Edith Cooper) 1862-1913
Katharine Lee Bates, 1859-1929
Charlotte Mew, 1879-1928
Amy Lowell, 1874-1925
Gertrude Stein, 1874-1946
Renee Vivien, 1877-1909
Angelina Weld Grimke, 1880-1958
Marie-Madeleine (aka Baronness Von Puttkamer) 1881- 1944
Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1892-1950
Elsa Gidlow, 1898-1986
Lesbian-Interest Poetry by Men
Edmund Waller, 1606-1687
William Wordsworth, 1770-1850
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1772-1834
Paul Verlaine, 1844-1896
Pierre Louys, 1870-1925
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poetry | Classical Art | Vintage Images | Letters & Journals | Quotations | About
© 1995 - 2004, Alix North
All Rights Reserved
This is an archive site sponsored by The Small Business Operative
_________________________________________________
http://www.malaspina.com/site/person_1018.asp
The word lesbian itself derives from her, being derived from the name of the island from which she came. (She is also the origin of its much rarer synonym sapphic, derived from her name.) Due to its homosexual content--and because of its explicit eroticism--her work was disapproved of by the Christian church......
萨福的同性恋在西方；叶嘉莹后来指出的那个雌雄同体说，就是概指东西方了。所以如果研究萨福，就是研究性别文学的开始，就是研究颠覆男性文学的开始，也是研究男性之所以“不是”开始。
其实不光是男性，女性也非纯粹女性，除了女权主义者们标准内的女性。
到了电脑四代，在虚拟文化里，男办女装抑或相反，也就屡见不鲜了，然后再克隆一家活，就都是萨福了。
以上是老萨的一些资料。把莱斯波斯一段摘录出来。省事的同志们可以知道，从她住的那个岛迄今，已经发展出现在无数的同性恋网站了。也许和阿姆斯特丹的性商店一样多了。
近来看看贡斯当，他的基本观点是，因为人少，所以古代的自由是全民参政，现在人多，就全民参私了——亨亭顿，也是怕美国的少数族裔之膨胀，带来米国中心之覆灭——可见萨福那时候，也是幸亏写诗歌者少，就成了第十。
现在如过江之鲫，就是莱斯伯斯，也无法幸免了。所以，我们对待萨福的崇仰，变成了绝对主义的事情了。
悲乎？乐乎？
Sappho (c. 625 BC-)
Sappho was an ancient Greek poet, from the city of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, which was a cultural centre in the 7th century BC. Today the island is known as Mytilene. She was born sometime between 630 BC and 612 BC It was said that she was small and dark. Sappho was married to a wealthy merchant, and they had a daughter named Cleis. She became very famous in her day for her poetry -- so much so that the city of Syracuse built a statue to honor her when she visited. Her family was politically active, which caused Sappho to travel a great deal. She was also noted during her life as the headmistress of a sort of Greek finishing school for girls. Most likely the objects of her poetry were her students. She was a lyric poet who developed her own particular meter, known as sapphic meter, and she was credited for leading an aesthetic movement away from classical themes of gods, to the themes of individual human experience. The Greeks were so enamoured of her poetry that they referred to her as the "tenth Muse". Sappho wrote mainly love poems, of which only fragments survive, save a single complete poem, Fragment 1, Hymn to Aphrodite (see below). Given her reputation in the ancient world, since only fragments of her work remain, the world lost a valuable treasure in her work. Some of her love poems were addressed to women, from which she developed a reputation for lesbianism. The word lesbian itself derives from her, being derived from the name of the island from which she came. (She is also the origin of its much rarer synonym sapphic, derived from her name.) Due to its homosexual content--and because of its explicit eroticism--her work was disapproved of by the Christian church, which is arguably the main reason why most of it has not survived, due to a combination of neglecting to copy it and undoubtedly in some cases purposeful destruction. While in the modern period this content is well known, in ancient and Medieval times she was more famous for (according to legend) throwing herself off a cliff due to unrequited love for a male sailor. However, this legend has no substantiation in Greek history, and it is generally believed that the legend was a fiction created by the Christian church to misdirect attention away from the overtones of her writing. [The material above is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License and uses material adapted in whole or in part from the Wikipedia article on Sappho..]
Alternate Biography
Greek poetess, was a native of Lesbos, contemporary with Alcaeus, Stesichorus and Pittacus, in fact, with the culminating period of Aeolic poetry. One of her brothers, Charaxus, fell in love with a courtesan named Doricha upon whom he squandered his property. Sappho wrote an ode, in which she severely satirized and rebuked him. Another brother, Larichus, was public cup-bearer at Mytilene - a position for which it was necessary to be well born, It is said that she had a daughter, named after her grandmother Cleis, and she had some personal acquaintance with Alcaeus. He addressed her in an ode of which a fragment is preserved: Violetweaving (or dark-haired), pure, sweet-smiling Sappho, I wish to say somewhat, but shame hinders me; and she answered in another ode: Hadst thou had desire of aught good or fair, shame would not have touched thine eyes, but thou wouldst have spoken thereof openly. The story of her love for the disdainful Phaon, and her leap into the sea from the Leucadian promontory, together with that of her flight from Mytilene to Sicily, has no confirmation; we are not even told whether she died of the leap or not. Critics again are agreed that Suidas was simply gulled by the comic poets when he tells of her husband, Cercolas of Andros. Both the aspersions which these poets cast on her character and the embellishments with which they garnished her life passed for centuries as undoubted history. Six comedies entitled Sappho and two Phaon, were produced by the Middle Comedy; but, when we consider, for example, the way in which Socrates was caricatured by Aristophanes, we are justified in putting no faith whatever in such authority. We may conclude that Sappho was not utterly vicious, though by no means a paragon of virtue. All ancient tradition and the character of her extant fragments show that her morality was what has ever since been known as "Lesbian."
At Lesbos she was head of a great poetic school, for poetry in that age and place was cultivated as assiduously and apparently as successfully by women as by men. Her most famous pupils were Erinna of Telos and Damophyla of Pamphylia. In Antiquity her fame rivalled that of Homer. She was called "the poetess," he "the poet." Different writers style her "the tenth Muse," "the flower of the Graces," "a miracle," "the beautiful," the last epithet referring to her writings, not her person, which is said to have been small and dark.
Her poems were arranged in nine books, on what principle is uncertain; she is said to have sung them to the Mixo-Lydian mode, which she herself invented. The perfection and finish of every line, the correspondence of sense and sound, the incomparable command over all the most delicate resources of verse, and the exquisite symmetry of the complete odes.which are extant, raise her into the very first rank of technical poetry at once, while her painting of passion, which caused Longinus to quote the ode to Anactoria as an example of the sublime, has never been since surpassed, and only approached by Catullus and in the Vita Nuova. Her fragments also bear witness to a profound feeling for the beauty of nature. The ancients also attributed to her a considerable power in satire, but in hexameter verse they considered her inferior to her pupil Erinna.
Fragment 1, Hymn to Aphrodite
Shimmering-throned immortal Aphrodite,
Daughter of Zeus, Enchantress, I implore thee,
Spare me, O queen, this agony and anguish,
Crush not my spirit
Whenever before thou has hearkened to me--
To my voice calling to thee in the distance,
And heeding, thou hast come, leaving thy father's
Golden dominions,
With chariot yoked to thy fleet-winged coursers,
Fluttering swift pinions over earth's darkness,
And bringing thee through the infinite, gliding
Downwards from heaven,
Then, soon they arrived and thou, blessed goddess,
With divine contenance smiling, didst ask me
What new woe had befallen me now and why,
Thus I had called the.
What in my mad heart was my greatest desire,
Who was it now that must feel my allurements,
Who was the fair one that must be persuaded,
Who wronged thee Sappho?
For if now she flees, quickly she shall follow
And if she spurns gifts, soon shall she offer them
Yea, if she knows not love, soon shall she feel it
Even reluctant.
Come then, I pray, grant me surcease from sorrow,
Drive away care, I beseech thee, O goddess
Fulfil for me what I yearn to accomplish,
Be thou my ally.
[Alternative biography adapted from the Encyclopedia Britannica (1911).]
The Great Books: Sappho
This web page is part of a biographical database on Great Ideas. These are living ideas that have shaped, defined and directed world culture for over 2,500 years. By definition the Great Ideas are radical. As such they are sometimes misread, or distorted by popular simplifications. Understanding a Great Idea demands personal engagement. Our selection of Great Ideas is drawn from literature and philosophy, science, art, music, theatre, and cinema. We also include biographies of pivotal historical and religious figures, as well as contributions from women and other historically under-represented minorities. The result is an integrated multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary database built upon the framework of a Great Books Core List developed by Mortimer Adler (1902-2001) nearly 50 years ago.
Please browse our Amazon list of titles about Sappho. For rare and hard to find works we recommend our Alibris list of titles about Sappho. Post Comments, Questions or Suggestions! This database is maintained by Malaspina Great Books © 1995-2003.
Browse: Books
Books from Amazon: Sappho
Books from Alibris: Sappho
Related Music Links
Ancient Music
Related Literature Links
Ancient Literature
Library Catalogs
Library of Congress: Sappho
Library of Canada: Sappho
COPAC UK: Sappho
Search Other Library Catalogs: Sappho
Original Great Books Research Links
Research Links - Literature: Sappho
Research Links - Music: Sappho
Best Choice: Books
Sappho: A New Translation
If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho
The Love Songs of Sappho - posted on 09/19/2004
http://www.sappho.nl/html_uk/index_uk.html
a g e n d a
- Thuesday
Songwriters Shownight (open stage) from 20.00
- Wednesday
Beer for 1 euro from 15.00 till 01.00
- Thursday
Live music from 20.00 till 23.00
- Friday women's night
With DJ R or DJ Suna (Funk & Fun Music) from 18.00 till 01.00
- Saterday
Cocktails with different DJ's (mellow house/dance house/lounche) from 22.00 till 03.00
- Sunday
Women's night from 18.00 till 01.00 - Re: 璐翠釜鏃т功璇勶紝闂�欑帥闆呫�傚挅鍟″拰鑼讹紝鎴戦兘鐖卞枬銆�posted on 09/20/2004
周瓒好！
周瓒是诗生活翻译论坛的版主。请各位也去他们那里串门。
http://www.poemlife.com.cn/forum/list.jsp?forumID=6
这里是周瓒的翻译：
http://www.poemlife.com:9001/TranslateColoum/zhouzan/index.asp?vAuthorId=zhouzan
周瓒，你在世界的哪个角落？ - Re: w e l c o m e t o c a f 茅 s a p p h o ! 锛堥樋濮嗘柉鐗逛腹锛�posted on 09/20/2004
阿姆斯特丹的这家咖啡店一定要去的！
世界上有趣的人真不少啊，internet伟大！！！！！！！！让全世界的疯子、半疯子们都联合起来了！！！
- Re: w e l c o m e t o c a f 茅 s a p p h o ! 锛堥樋濮嗘柉鐗逛腹锛�posted on 09/20/2004
回玛雅，我在北京。：）
今年底有机会去阿姆斯特丹，
届时要找找这个咖啡馆。 - Re: w e l c o m e t o c a f 茅 s a p p h o ! 锛堥樋濮嗘柉鐗逛腹锛�posted on 09/27/2004
注意, 荷兰的cafe和coffee shop 有别, coffee shop 是出售大麻的地方. - Re: 璐翠釜鏃т功璇勶紝闂�欑帥闆呫�傚挅鍟″拰鑼讹紝鎴戦兘鐖卞枬銆�posted on 09/01/2005
我现在正在做一个有关萨福的翻译，里面很多外国人名都不知道如何翻译，对萨福感兴趣的朋友能否帮忙啊？
Please paste HTML code and press Enter.
(c) 2010 Maya Chilam Foundation