Sappho mythified, Sappho mystified or the metamorphoses of Sappho in fin de siecle France

This article is concerned with the way the mythical figure of Sappho was constructed by writers and painters at the end of the 19th century. At the turn of the century Sappho's work was translated anew, while Sappho herself was turned into a personnage romanesque. She then became the object of various 'metamorphoses' best conceived in terms of an infinite reproduction of the poetess under different guises - she is given new faces, new destinies and even new names - that nevertheless affect a singular 'metamorphosis'; Sappho is sexualized, transformed from the poetess into a lesbian, symbol of all that is contre-nature and thus the original aberrant woman (e.g., 'viragos,' bluestockings, feminists and later garconnes) as it was then being constructed by literary and medical discourse. But if no longer an untouchable myth, this actualized Sappho can be considered as a keyfigure to the understanding of fin de siecle fantasies and fears about lesbianism and female sexuality in general.