And NO it is NOT homework! We DID do a week on Gertrude Stein and the like and it got me interested but I never did grasp sapphic and primitive modernism. Still scratching my head! I know for a fact that there are some geniuses on here (Hello Oralio!) who when they know a subject, KNOW it inside and out.

xoxo, Retro Rose

Modernism a way to deconstruct art and language from a male point of view and bring a new rythym(sp?) and style and essentialism that could be seen as a lesbian point of view. Gertrude Stein's work can be seen as an example of this. Look at Lifting Belly as a way she has constructed a new linguistic style to create a poem about lesbian eroticsm. Actually, once you break the coded text it is incredibly erotic!

I just sort of worked this all out since I wrote the above. Anyone care to correct me or expand? God please!

xoxo, Retro Rose

The word "sapphic" is often traced back to Sappho, a Greek poet. Because she wrote love poems addressed to both women and men, Sappho has long been considered bisexual. The word "lesbian" derives from the name of the island of her birth, Lesbos.

In practicality, in today's world, sapphic modernism is the investigating/understanding of the social and historical meanings of racial, gender, and sexual identities and their relationship to contemporary lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender communities.

You may find this book interesting, "Fashioning Sapphism: the Origins of a Modern English Lesbian Culture by Laura Doan".

Cheers,
- blue thrills

I could probably venture a reasonably intelligent guess, but it wouldn't be of much value.

Be the change
you wish to see

Cheers,
- blue thrills