Homo ludens at play with the songs of Sappho: Experiments in comparative reception theory, Part Four

Abstract

This posting for 2019.01.31 is Part Four of a long-term project that started with Part One at 2019.01.08 and continued with Part Two at 2019.01.16 and with Part Three at 2019.01.25. The numbering of my paragraphs here in Part Four continues from §64 of Part Three, which had continued from §51 of Part Two, which had continued from §33 of Part One. In Part Four, as in Parts Three and Two and One, I analyze examples of ancient texts composed by male authors who playfully imitate Sappho by appropriating aspects of her songs in their own literary creations. The primary examples in Part Four here, as earlier in Part Three, come from the poetry of Catullus.