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Sappho's Leap: A Novel (Jong, Erica) Kindle Edition

4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 87 ratings

The #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Fear of Flying brings the seductive Greek poet to life in this “enormously entertaining” tale (Booklist).
 As she stands poised at the edge of a precipice in the shadow of the sanctuary of Apollo, the greatest love poet who ever was or ever will be recalls the eventful fifty years that have led her to this moment. It was love that seduced her, at age sixteen, into an ill-fated plot with the poet Alcaeus to depose the despot of the island of Lesbos. It was love that made her trade the unwanted marriage bed of an old, despised, and drunken husband for a seemingly endless series of lovers, both male and female.
For Sappho, life has always been a banquet to be savored to the fullest, a strange and sensual odyssey that has carried her to the far corners of the ancient world. Devoted to the goddess Aphrodite and granted the gift of immortal song, she has followed her magnificent destiny from Delphi to Egypt, to the land of the Amazons, the realm of the centaurs, and into the stygian depths of Hades itself, often in the company of her companion and friend, the fabulist slave Aesop.
Through every grand affair and every wild adventure, she has remained forever true to her heart, her passion, and herself, right up to this, the end of everything.
Combining evocative and realistic detail with unabashedly outrageous invention, Erica Jong’s 
Sappho’s Leap is a flawless gem of historical fiction boldly imagined by one of America’s most enthralling storytellers.
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Erica Jong including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection. 

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

What if the poet Sappho had paused to tell the story of her life in the moment before her legendary leap from the cliff? It's a neat premise, and the grab bag of brilliant bits that is all we know of Sappho's life might, in defter hands, have been fashioned into shimmering whole cloth. Instead, we get a windy, chaotic tale, which owes more to Bob Guccione's "Caligula" than to classical scholarship (sample chapter headings: "Aesop at the Orgy," "The Binding of the Babe"). Jong can't resist turning Sappho into a sandal-shod Isadora Wing, careering from one rapt, cartoonish embrace to another while occasionally crooning verses that as an imitation of Sappho's ravishing, elusive poetry are hopelessly inadequate.
Copyright © 2005
The New Yorker

Review

Sappho’s Leap delights. Jong’s Sappho has moxie.” —USA Today
“Jong offers sly commentary on everything from slavery to superstition, greed, lust, vanity, deceit, age, and artistic freedom in a tale that is at once enormously entertaining and wisely provocative.” —
Booklist
“A wild adventure with a heroine like no other. Searing and startling.” —Naomi Wolf

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00F9H5BNA
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media; 1st edition (October 8, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 8, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 8.2 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 87 ratings

About the author

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Erica Jong
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ERICA JONG

(Bio used www.ericajong.com)

Erica Jong--novelist, poet, and essayist--has consistently used her craft to help provide women with a powerful and rational voice in forging a feminist consciousness. She has published 23 books, including nine novels, seven volumes of poetry, six books of non-fiction and numerous articles in magazines and newspapers such as The New York Times, The Sunday Times of London, Elle, Vogue, The New York Times Book Review and The Wall Street Journal.

In her groundbreaking first novel, Fear of Flying (20 million in print around the world in more than forty languages), she introduced Isadora Wing, who also plays a central part in three subsequent novels--How to Save Your Own Life, Parachutes and Kisses, and Any Woman's Blues. In her three historical novels--Fanny, Shylock's Daughter, and Sappho's Leap--she demonstrates her mastery of eighteenth-century British literature, the verses of Shakespeare, and ancient Greek lyric, respectively. Erica's memoir of her life as a writer, Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life, came out in March 2006. It was a national bestseller in the US and many other countries. Erica's much anticipated novel, Fear of Dying, is due for publication by St. Martin's Press in September 2015.

A graduate of Barnard College and Columbia University's Graduate Faculties where she received her M.A. in 18th Century English Literature, Erica Jong also attended Columbia's graduate writing program where she studied poetry with Stanley Kunitz and Mark Strand. In 2008, continuing her long-standing relationship with the university, a large collection of Erica's archival material was acquired by Columbia University's Rare Book & Manuscript Library, where it will be available to graduate and undergraduate students. Ms. Jong plans to teach master classes at Columbia and also advise the Rare Book Library on the acquisition of other women writers' archives.

Calling herself "a defrocked academic," Ms. Jong has partly returned to her roots as a scholar. She has taught at Ben Gurion University in Israel, Bennington College in the U.S., Breadloaf Writers' Conference in Vermont and many other distinguished writing programs and universities. She loves to teach and lecture, though her skill in these areas has sometimes crowded her writing projects. "As long as I am communicating the gift of literature, I'm happy," Jong says. A poet at heart, Ms. Jong believes that words can save the world.

Known for her commitment to women's rights, authors' rights and free expression, Ms. Jong is a frequent lecturer in the U.S. and abroad. She served as president of The Authors' Guild from 1991 to 1993 and still serves on the Board. She established a program for young writers at her alma mater, Barnard College. The Erica Mann Jong Writing Center at Barnard teaches students the art of peer tutoring and editing.

Erica Jong was honored with the United Nations Award for Excellence in Literature. She has also received Poetry magazine's Bess Hokin Prize, also won by W.S. Merwin and Sylvia Plath. In France, she received the Deauville Award for Literary Excellence and in Italy, she received the Sigmund Freud Award for Literature. The City University of New York awarded Ms. Jong an honorary PhD at the College of Staten Island. In June 2009, Erica won the first Fernanda Pivano Prize for Literature in Italy.

Erica Jong lives in New York City and Weston, CT with her husband, attorney Ken Burrows, and standard poodle, Belinda Barkowitz. Her daughter, Molly Jong-Fast, is also a writer.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
87 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book an interesting and worthwhile read. They appreciate the candid story with its theological framing. The story starts out strong as Sappho recounts her childhood in Lesbos. Readers also mention that Sappho is one of the world's great poets.

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6 customers mention "Readability"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book an interesting read. They say it's worth reading.

"...Reading this novel is a superbly worthwhile endeavor." Read more

"...tale Jong weaves out of what little is known of Sappho's history is wonderful. It flows like few modern stories do...." Read more

"...This book reminds you how pleasurable reading can be, in case you're one that has forgotten." Read more

"A very interesting read - not what I expected from Erica Jong, since the other book of hers that I read was Fear of Flying...." Read more

6 customers mention "Story quality"6 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the story's quality. They find it beautiful, tragic yet candid, with a theological framing. The story starts out strong as Sappho recounts her childhood in Lesbos. It's dramatic, philosophical, religious, and has plenty of humor. Readers describe it as a refresher course in mythology and a rousing read.

"...This book is active, loving, philosophical, religious, dramatic, and has plenty of humor. Reading this novel is a superbly worthwhile endeavor." Read more

"...The story itself is beautiful. I saw the book likened to The Odyssey, and after reading, I agree...." Read more

"...I particularly enjoyed the theological framing of this story as bet between Aphrodite and Zeus" Read more

"...The story starts out strong enough as Sappho recounts her childhood in Lesbos, her special bond with her father, life with her brothers, etc...." Read more

3 customers mention "Poetry"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the poetry. They mention Sappho is one of the world's great poets.

"...of a Passionate Poet, a Lover without equal and a Woman who is subbed the 10th Muse. The picture on this book is a famous work of art...." Read more

"Sappho was known to to the ancients as the greatest lyricist of all time, the Poetess who rivaled and perhaps surpassed the Poet Homer...." Read more

"...Sappho is one of the world's great poets, but you'd never guess it from this supposedly first person account. I warn everybody to avoid it." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2014
    I've always had a fondness for the Greek Classics: the ancient religion, the philosophy, the histories, the plays, the heroic epics. I even read fragments of Sappho's lovely poetry. Along comes Erica Jong with a classic novel about Sappho, Priestess and heroine of Aphrodite. Of the five books I've read by Erica Jong, this novel has become an immediate favorite. This book is active, loving, philosophical, religious, dramatic, and has plenty of humor. Reading this novel is a superbly worthwhile endeavor.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2010
    Jong's translations of what is left of Sappho's poetry are a little iffy, but recognizable. The story itself is beautiful. I saw the book likened to The Odyssey, and after reading, I agree. The journey is everything, for the character Jong builds on Sappho. The mythic journey that she finds herself thrown into creates Sappho's fame, and when she ends that journey, her fame almost flickers out in favor of the changing trends of song in her homeland. The tale Jong weaves out of what little is known of Sappho's history is wonderful. It flows like few modern stories do. And the ending was satisfying - a happy ending, veering away from despair in love and suicide. Jong's Sappho- and Aphrodite-inspired poems at the end were appropriate, but I didn't enjoy them that much. I ended up reading through them just to finish. They didn't grab my attention.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2008
    Sappho has always been an interesting figure to me, as have her poems. I always wonder what it would have been like had her poetry survived the ages whole and intact, and if there would have been as much fascination with her and her work if it had. Of course, you can say that about anything lost or fragmented over time.

    The reason I mention this is that what Erica Jong attempts to do is to fill the gaps in Sappho -- not only in terms of poetic license, but also in terms of her own life and history. The premise of the novel is very interesting and starts off with Sappho herself about to leap over a cliff. As you follow her life, Jong actually exposes you to a lot of ancient Greek, Egyptian and Mediterranean mythology and historical lore -- creating a very cosmopolitan, strange and somewhat eerily familiar ancient classical world.

    She also creates many interesting characters and has quite a few interesting ideas with regards to Sappho's own geographical and sensual journeys. In many ways, the author attempts to present Sappho's adventures as though they are part of a Homeric epic. Indeed, it is even stated somewhere in the book that the idea is that these would be Sappho's adventures if Homer had replaced Odysseus with the poet herself.

    But however ambitious that goal was, it somewhat fell short. The characters were skimmed over a lot, and there was more in the way of summary and exposition than there was action. Often, although Sappho's own emotions were described very vividly through first-person narrative, the other characters were not given that much complexity -- as were some very interesting other situations.

    There were many times in the novel itself that some events, transitions between events, and characters could have been expanded on and solidified, but they were summarized or skimmed over for the sake of brevity. Also, there were even hints of ideology in the narrative that were both anachronistic for the epic poetic tradition it was supposed to be written in or derived from, and very heavy-handed and obvious.

    I feel that the idea was an excellent one, but more detail and more expansion to character and events could have been much more interesting. However, I did learn a lot from it, and I admire the attempt to take a figure and her works fragmented by history and filling the gaps with other elements of contemporary history, literature, and mythology. Trying to move it into mythology.

    It was certainly an interesting read.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2014
    i read this book several years ago. Sadly, I lost my hard copy of the book.
    But, Amazon had one for sale. I reclaimed this treasure of the life, loves & adventures
    of a Passionate Poet, a Lover without equal and a Woman who is subbed the 10th Muse.
    The picture on this book is a famous work of art. I found it drew me into the book and
    to the Woman Herself. (I bought a framed picture of this work of art by Charles Mengin 1877).
    Read this book and Sappho take you away to Crete, Lebos and to Ancient Greece.
    Walk with Her through lush gardens, as the Goddess Aphrodite inspires Her verses of Love.
    Sappho is the 10th Muse. Love is a two-edged sword. Sappho knew this only too well.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2014
    Honestly, I think this story could be called the Odyssey of Sappho – her travels are reminiscent of Ulysses’ journey through real and mythological realms. She experiences love, loss, laughter, abandonment, disillusionment, and passion as she travels through Egypt and Greece, Hades and Amazonia.

    Through Sappho, Jong explores how women lived and thrived in the ancient world. From prostitutes who set themselves up as queens of men to women who marry tyrants to gain the protection and social standing of a man’s name, the ancient world was not a kind place for women. As a widow traveling alone, Sappho stands out in this world. Her independence is tolerated by the surrounding society only because her remarkable skill as a poet affords her certain liberties in traveling and entering into symposia around the world.

    I particularly enjoyed the theological framing of this story as bet between Aphrodite and Zeus
    7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Jim Valero
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful story of a great poet by a contemporary poet.
    Reviewed in Mexico on January 26, 2023
    Once I started reading, I couldn't stop. Ms Jong has the poet's touch for suggestive metaphor and simile, sensual description, and flowing prose. She brings the poet Sapho to life in a convincing, realistic way that grabs the imagination. Imperceptibly, one finds oneself accompanying Sapho along in that wonderful and exciting world of ancient Lesbos and the Greek world. Amazing writing. Inspiring story. 🍀🌹🍀
  • B. Meier
    3.0 out of 5 stars IF you are a fan of Erica Jong
    Reviewed in Germany on March 5, 2016
    If you are are a fan of this author you will like this book or at least finish this book. If you are interested in Greek Mythology this book will be easy to read and you will enjoy the story. A little of both - and you get to ***.
  • lou
    3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2014
    I enjoyed the research into anceint Greece, but I wouldn't read it twice

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