The tenth muse

Aaron Poochigian, translator --> reviewed by Rachel Hadas -->

Aaron Poochigian puts Sappho together by taking her apart. What’s most striking in this slim, enticing volume of accessible new translations is Poochigian’s two-pronged approach. He translates Sappho’s poems and fragments into simple, limpid lyrics that are easy to imagine being sung. He organizes the fragments into thematic sections (Goddesses; Desire and Death-Longing; Her Girls and Family; Troy; Maidens and Marriage; and The Wisdom of Sappho) that work a kind of synecdochic spell, making Sappho’s lost oeuvre seem less distant and more imaginable as a whole. Poochigian’s technique (both as translator and editor), in addition to his thorough and informative introduction, works to give readers an...