Sappho and Homer

In this book Melissa Mueller brings two of the most celebrated poets from Greek antiquity into conversation with contemporary theorists of gender sexuality and affect studies. Like all lyric poets of her time Sappho was steeped in the affects and story-world of Homeric epic and the language characters and themes of her poetry often intersect with those of Homer. Yet the relationship between Sappho and Homer has usually been framed as competitive and antagonistic. This book instead sets the two side by side within the embrace of a non-hierarchical ''reparative reading'' culture as first conceived by queer theorist and poet Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. Reintroducing readers to a Sappho who supplements Homer''s vision it is an approach that locates Sappho''s lyrics at the center of timely discussions about materiality shame queer failure and the aging body while presenting a sustaining and collaborative way of reading both lyric and epic.