{"collection":"Classics","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/cla/sob/index.htm","path":"cla/sob/index.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/cla/sob/index.htm","text":"First published in Paris in 1894, this purports to be translations\nof poems by a woman named Bilitis,\na contemporary and acquaintance of Sappho.\nThis caused a sensation, not only because finding an intact cache of\npoems from a completely unknown Greek poet circa 600 B.C. would be\na miracle, but because of its open\nand sensitive exploration of lesbian eroticism.\nActually Bilitis never existed.\nThe poems were a clever forgery by Pierre Lou\u00ffs--the\n\"translator\"; to lend weight, he\nhad even included a bibliography with bogus supporting works.\nLou\u00ffs actually did have a good command of the classics,\nand he salted Bilitis with a number of quotations\nfrom real poets, including Sappho, to make it even more convincing.\nJust because this is a fake does not detract from its literary value.\nAnd just because it was written by a man did not\nprevent it from acquiring cultural significance for Lesbians.\nIn fact, one of the earliest\norganizations of Lesbians in the United States\nwas called the Daughters of Bilitis (although this could have been because\nit was a reference that would elude most people).\nPrior to the 1960s, in the US, English translations of Bilitis were\nconsidered risqu\u00e9 enough to\nwarrant lavish privately printed limited editions.\nThis was a dodge to circumvent now-defunct censorship laws.\nThe version this particular etext is based on was printed in 1926,\nand has sensual and very witty Art Deco illustrations by Wily Pogany.\nFor more information on the context of this work,\nrefer to my essay on Sappho.","title":"The Songs of Bilitis Index","type":"page"}