Historical representations and their cultural significance

Sappho and Genji

Sappho and "The Tale of Genji"

Sappho and Genji

For most of history, and over most of the planet, women have had to play a secondary role in society. Whether in politics, the arts, or any other aspect of culture, women have traditionally been relegated to the background, and thus the examples of women artists throughout history have been few and far between. Two exceptions were the ancient Greek female poet, Sappho, and the 11th century Japanese noblewoman and author, Murasaki Shikibu. Because these two artists were women, their works have a unique point-of-view and present women in a way that is unique and refreshing; and while they were separated by thousands of miles and hundreds of years, they have many aspects in common. Both artists used vivid descriptive prose and expressed their personal feelings in their writings. But while they did have some aspects in common, the way women are portrayed in their work is very different.

Sappho was an ancient Greek poet who was born to an aristocratic family and lived sometime around 600 BC on the island of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea. Ancient Greece was a society dominated by men, but Sappho's works are centered on women. Before her time, Greek literature was the domain of the gods and goddesses, and written from their point-of-view. But Sappho steered Greek literature toward a more personal point-of-view; the view of the individual human being. She was one of the very first poets in Greek literature to write from the perspective of the first person, and her writings are her own personal reflections on the love and pain involved in her personal life. For instance, Sappho was involved in a relationship with a young woman named Atthis; and expressed her love for the girl stating, "I loved you, Atthis, once long ago, a little child you seemed to me and graceless." (Sappho "Atthis" [fragment 49]) in accordance with the style of the time, Sappho wrote her poems to be performed with musical accompaniment, and because this music was almost exclusively performed with a lyre, artists who created in this style are called "lyrists." Sappho's work is almost entirely devoted to love, longing, or her personal feelings. As a love poet, her tone is often soft and gentle; filled with erotic imagery and adoration, mainly toward other women.

The best available date for the birth of Murasaki Shikibu is 973 AD, more than fifteen hundred years after the Greek poet Sappho lived. In 11th century Japan, it was the custom to use written Japanese for common communications while all official and literary work was done in classical Chinese. Because Japan was a highly segregated society, Women were not usually allowed to learn classical Chinese, and thus blocked from participating in the more important aspects of society, such as literature. From this prohibition, women like Murasaki Shikibu helped develop what would become known as classical Japanese prose. But because Murasaki wrote in a style of Japanese that was still developing from the spoken language, many of the physical gestures often associated with the spoken word make the prose seem "flowery," and overly descriptive. Women had a secondary role in society, and this was reflected in the writings of Murasaki as women seem to define themselves in relations to the men in their lives. And because 11th century Japan was not a monogamous society, containing both wives and concubines, the imagery used to describe women and their relationship to men is commonly filled with jealousy and rivalry. Women themselves are often portrayed from the point-of-view of longing for their man, waiting patiently for him to visit, and always willing to please him. They are also seen as vindictive and hateful as when the evil spirit of Rokujo Lady possessed the body of Genji's beloved Lady Murasaki making her ill and resulting in her death. The evil spirit admitted to Genji that it had been in possession of Murasaki's body because, as the spirit stated "I have wanted you to suffer as I suffered." (Murasaki 2001)