D’Alessio’s paper explores Sappho’s poems from the point view of their textual pragmatics, and analyzes their implications in relation to notional performance contexts. Examining the way in which linguistic elements internal to the texts point to extra-textual elements, mainly through deixis and indexicals, D’Alessio argues that, contrary to widespread assumptions, Sappho’s poems, with very few exceptions, do not tend to present themselves as embedded in an actual ritual performance context: while performance does occupy a crucial thematic, and cultural role in Sappho’s poetry, it is usually projected into a different time and place, or looked at from its margin. The article focuses mainly on texts from Book 1 of the ancient standard edition of Sappho (which provide a fairly homogenous corpus, and whose knowledge has recently increased thanks to the publication of new papyrus fragments), but takes into account also relevant texts from the other Books. It is articulated in the following sections: 1) ‘Addresses to gods/ Prayers’: an analysis, from the point of view of pragmatics, of Sappho 1, 2, 5, 15 and 17 (the three latter involving new readings and interpretations based on the new papyrus texts); 2) A section on ‘Stage Directions?’, focusing on texts that apparently entail interaction with internal and/or external performers (this includes Sappho 6, 21, 22, 27, 30, 43, 58, 81), points out that in most cases where the text can be reconstructed with reasonable certainty such ‘stage directions’ do not imply an invitation to perform the song itself in a self-referential way, but locate it outside of the poem; Section 3), ‘On the margins of a ritual frame?’, examines some passages that explicitly envisage performances as future events: the most interesting text from this point of view is the new Brothers Poem, but recently published fragments suggest that this was very probably the case at least also of Sappho 9. The last section, 4) ‘An abstract frame’ uses Sappho 31 as a sort of ‘litmus test’ for an overall assessment of the issue. This is a fragmentary poem that has elicited widely divergent responses in recent times, ranging from strictly performative readings to interpretations that, more or less strictly, link the text to written communication (as opposed to oral, communal performance), triggering an important discussion on the relationship between fiction and performance in ancient lyric poetry. In the paper’s conclusion D’Alessio argues that we should allow the possibility that many, indeed, arguably, most of Sappho’s preserved poems might have been meant for performance outside of a proper ritual frame, for which they provided, nevertheless, with their texts, a very much needed (and, obviously, appreciated) comment and interpretation. It was, it would seem, not their embeddedness within a ritual, but their ability to look at it from the margin, that guaranteed their diffusion and survival beyond their original context.

Fiction and Pragmatics in Ancient Greek Lyric: The Case of Sappho / D'Alessio, GIOVAN BATTISTA. - (2018), pp. 31-62.

Fiction and Pragmatics in Ancient Greek Lyric: The Case of Sappho

D'alessio
2018

Abstract

D’Alessio’s paper explores Sappho’s poems from the point view of their textual pragmatics, and analyzes their implications in relation to notional performance contexts. Examining the way in which linguistic elements internal to the texts point to extra-textual elements, mainly through deixis and indexicals, D’Alessio argues that, contrary to widespread assumptions, Sappho’s poems, with very few exceptions, do not tend to present themselves as embedded in an actual ritual performance context: while performance does occupy a crucial thematic, and cultural role in Sappho’s poetry, it is usually projected into a different time and place, or looked at from its margin. The article focuses mainly on texts from Book 1 of the ancient standard edition of Sappho (which provide a fairly homogenous corpus, and whose knowledge has recently increased thanks to the publication of new papyrus fragments), but takes into account also relevant texts from the other Books. It is articulated in the following sections: 1) ‘Addresses to gods/ Prayers’: an analysis, from the point of view of pragmatics, of Sappho 1, 2, 5, 15 and 17 (the three latter involving new readings and interpretations based on the new papyrus texts); 2) A section on ‘Stage Directions?’, focusing on texts that apparently entail interaction with internal and/or external performers (this includes Sappho 6, 21, 22, 27, 30, 43, 58, 81), points out that in most cases where the text can be reconstructed with reasonable certainty such ‘stage directions’ do not imply an invitation to perform the song itself in a self-referential way, but locate it outside of the poem; Section 3), ‘On the margins of a ritual frame?’, examines some passages that explicitly envisage performances as future events: the most interesting text from this point of view is the new Brothers Poem, but recently published fragments suggest that this was very probably the case at least also of Sappho 9. The last section, 4) ‘An abstract frame’ uses Sappho 31 as a sort of ‘litmus test’ for an overall assessment of the issue. This is a fragmentary poem that has elicited widely divergent responses in recent times, ranging from strictly performative readings to interpretations that, more or less strictly, link the text to written communication (as opposed to oral, communal performance), triggering an important discussion on the relationship between fiction and performance in ancient lyric poetry. In the paper’s conclusion D’Alessio argues that we should allow the possibility that many, indeed, arguably, most of Sappho’s preserved poems might have been meant for performance outside of a proper ritual frame, for which they provided, nevertheless, with their texts, a very much needed (and, obviously, appreciated) comment and interpretation. It was, it would seem, not their embeddedness within a ritual, but their ability to look at it from the margin, that guaranteed their diffusion and survival beyond their original context.
2018
9780198805823
Fiction and Pragmatics in Ancient Greek Lyric: The Case of Sappho / D'Alessio, GIOVAN BATTISTA. - (2018), pp. 31-62.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11588/704106
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