Search

According to some recent scholarship, fr. 16 LP portrays Helen in an entirely positive light.1 She is seen as providing "a positive example of erotic self fulfillment" and "a justification of [the poetic speaker's] passion for Anaktoria." "Sappho's Helen ... is held up as proof that it is right to desire one thing above all others." "Helen ... acted, pursuing the thing she loved, and for that action, Sappho celebrates her." "Helen is [the poetic speaker's] revered example of ... libido in action," and so on.2 These interpretations, while in some ways di vergent, all understand fr. 16 LP to rate erotic desire as the highest value and to commend Helen for doing the same. Thus they contravene earlier scholarship, most of which takes one of three views: fr. 16 LP either censures the traditional

Mr. Chairman, President Rogers, Professor McDougal, Judge Hack-worth, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen: When Steve Schwehel called me up over long distance I was peacefully having supper at the Promenade Hotel in The Hague. He asked me if I would quickly pinch-hit for Manfred Lachs, who had accepted but was laid low by illness. I accepted in a mood of exuberant indiscretion. I did not know then that my good friend, Myres McDougal, would steal most of the time theoretically allocated for what is called the major address of the evening. However, I forgive him because of his gracious allusion to Mrs. Dillard. This is the kind of thing we Southerners indulge in with the grace and respect for the amenities for which we are renowned.