the flower field

For no apparent reason, I felt like diving into my Sappho universe today. I've researched for this project the past year and yet, nothing tangible has come of it. I think it must be one of those stories that really takes its time telling - which is fine by me. I'd rather get it right than rush it.

Anyway, because my girlfriend was out of the house to get a new tattoo, I couldn't work on the epistolary thing we're doing, so I pulled out my notebook for the Sappho stories and started leafing through them - and I got some ideas. First off, I can't fit all of this lore around Sappho into just one novel. So right now, I'm looking at a trilogy, a "young Sappho" novel, told from the perspective of Anaktoria, a "pre-exile adult Sappho", told from the perspective of Atthis and finally an older, "post-exile Sappho", returned to Mytilene, told from the perspective of her daughter, Kleïs. I think, like this, I can paint a portrait of Sappho that adds to the picture she already paints of herself in her fragments, rather than telling it from Sappho's PoV and writing on top of her own words. The trilogy will be in Danish, I've decided, although it pains me to think of all the Ancient Greek terms I have to look up and translate, shit. But I just think I can do these women the most justice in my native tongue. I'll call the series what translates to, "Besung by Sappho", with each novel having a subtitle that's just the main character's name, that is: Anaktoria, Atthis or Kleïs.

I'm really excited about it! Kinda bummed I can't start right away, with the other project going on, but I'll try to steal some writing time here and there, where possible. Like I said, this is a project where pacing isn't the issue, I'm patient with it and I know what I want from it in the end... Still, excited!



Above, you see my full collection of Sappho translations (Danish and English), as well as an art book on Sappho (Danish), some assorted Ancient Greek poetry (English) and a huge book on Archaic Greece, the time period that Sappho hails from. I originally got this as a free PDF, but got so tired of scrolling that I just bought it in the physical. It's a great book, though, I recommend it to anyone interested in these things. In the bottom right corner is my "Pink Carnation" Paperblanks notebook that has served me so well. One of the best notebooks I've ever bought. It's just taken everything in stride. Unlined, midi, elastic closure. Also recced! All my notes on Ancient Greece and Sappho are crammed in there. I don't even need the books anymore, my orderliness has been on point this one time.



My girlfriend will be away most of tomorrow, so I think I'll try getting started on an opening scene for the first of the three novels, Anaktoria. If I have the spoons tomorrow. I think they've been kinda low today.