If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho (Vintage Contemporaries)

I keep several translations of Sappho at hand, since each translator brings her (or his) own perspective to the fragments, and my Ancient Greek is not good enough to second-guess a single translator. Amongst these, Carson seems to be the only one with the original Greek en-face, and with a whole page dedicated to each fragment. In terms of the translation itself, Carson's is usually my favorite, with Powell's a close second. Her translations are more direct than others', which can sometimes yield unusual phrasing in English, but Sappho's intensely personal expression comes through all the more clearly this way. See, for example, fragment 138: Carson: stand to face me beloved and open out the grace of your eyes Powell: But stand before me, if you are my friend, and spread the grace that's in your eyes. Barnstone: Stand and face me, my love, and scatter the grace in your eyes Rayor & Lardinois: Stand before me as a friend and flaunt the charm in your eyes. In terms of Sappho herself—or what we have left of her, she is an easy poet to fall in love with. Her songs, mostly love songs, ring as true today as 2600 years ago. In a good translation, they sound as fresh as if they were off top-40 radio... except no modern singer-songwriter is this good. She has the intense and insistent sensuality of Cavafy as well as his easy mixing of the mundane with the mythical, the sweet sadness of Joan Baez along with her self-aware wry humor, a sharper blade for her rivals than any rap battle, and expresses the depth of feelings as clearly as Shakespeare's sonnets. It is infuriating that so little of her work has survived. I hope that Carson will publish an updated edition including the recently discovered papyri.

I love the layout of this book that allows me to read the Greek text on one side and the English on the other. And this English rendering is lovely and accurate. Enjoy!

Gorgeous translation and the notes are very helpful!

Beautifully compiled! I adore this book, it's so much more than I was expecting. I find something new every time I open this book, sweet little turns of phrases, deeply felt. I love that it includes the Greek beside. Some are very short fragments indeed, phrases that only hint at what the whole might have been, and some are more complete. There is something so lovely about the fragments, though! At the beginning is a quick introduction to Sappho, and the end notes are quite complete and give more context to the shorter fragments.

This is a fantastic book. Sappho the name is famous. She talked about with great praise by other classic authors but her poetry is unknown to modern audiences. This book makes the point that the what exists of Sappho's poems/songs are really just fragments. In many cases only a few words exist with little or no context. The broken nature of these fragments is reinforced in the text by the use of blank space on the pages. The only problem is, I can't get over the feeling that I've paid for a full book and gotten a lot of blank pages.

I love this book of poetry fragments. But fragments is what they are. Historians have precious little of Sappho's poetry and ONLY ONE IS A COMPLETE POEM. I see a few reviews upset at what they end up getting, but this is simply all there is. There are huge pieces missing, making most of the poems difficult if not impossible to glean much meaning from. I really love how the translator has used brackets to illustrate how much is missing, as well as the choice to present each fragment separately. It really gives me the sense of how much time has passed, lost history, and context that I think is important to enjoying this text. Reading this is like hearing a song being played rooms away, you hear bits and pieces and can kind of make it out and understand the idea, but you cannot hear the whole song. Make sure you understand what this book is before you buy it so you are not disappointed, it is not a book of poetry like we are used to.

Subtle yet excellent, the stars do shine, a sublime limelight on the stage of Sapphic understanding. Anne Carson's book: "If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho," is my introduction to the story of early Greek poetry, I am enjoying it as I continue to read. Working with fragments cannot be easy, but to translate it without being tempted to reinterpret it makes my trust in Ms. Carson's ability important. I trust her very much. As a poet, she has an ear on the lyrical, the music of the original must be influential. I do not speak Greek, so I cannot write from a "full" perspective, only to say I am glad to have her book in my library. 2/26/15 Additional commentary: How well written, and the genius of the personal, I read online and at the encyclopedia (Wiki) that Sappho was a master of personal poetry, that she connected to individuals as opposed to groups, like a poet to an individual reader... How important it truly is that one need not be a reader of Greek language to appreciate the subtle genius of Sappho and Ms. Carson in the briefest of fragments. For example, fragment 176, page 349, the fragment reads: "lyre, lyre, lyre". The Greek reads three words, similar, yet spelt subtly different, almost as if "lyre, liar, lier" We don't know, but Ms. Carson understands. A good mystery piques our interest! Allen Hagar

I was introduced to Sappho in a World Literature class at my university. I was immediately fascinated with her and wanted to read more of her work. I researched for quite a while and decided this was the translation I wanted and I have not been disappointed. I re-examine this piece of work every few months. Much of Sappho is fragments because a lot of the work has been ruined but what is left, is beautiful and this translation does it justice. I would highly recommend!

I'm really giving this edition of Sappho two slightly different marks, divided purely by production. To start with, Anne Carson's translation is excellent, the facing text (based on Voigt's Sappho et Alcaeus: Fragmenta, 1971) clear and Carson's endnotes both helpful and interesting. However, there is a difference between the hardback and paperback edition. The hardback has excellent paper and the Greek text is printed in red ink (I give it five stars) where the paperback is on poorer over-bleached paper, with the Greek text printed in a grey tone which reduces its legibility (four stars). If you get any pleasure out of a physical book or want to use the Greek text I recommend if possible trying to find a copy of the hardback, sadly some years out of print. A more simply-solved recommendation is to buy a copy of Anne Carson's critical book on Sappho as an accompaniment to this book. Eros the Bittersweet takes you through Sappho's poetry with Carson's particular vision (and her strong classical scholarship) as a guide. Strongly recommended. I'm pleased to find that the official reprint edition by Dalkey Archive is of excellent quality - and is inexpensive.

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we really need to know what is really there because no other world historic artist - except perhaps apelles - is so unknown and legendary as sappho

Creo que es mi traducción favorita de Sappho de todas las que he leído hasta la fecha. Música que me recuerda a Morton Feldman y Eva-Maria Houben, a Arvo Pärt, a Morten Lauridsen y a Tavener, a David Lang... música que destella en la oscuridad y en el paisaje y me lleva a lugares donde siento la niebla y el mar y el viento, la luz...

one wants to start a lyrics for a infinite song that sounds like river with many pussies