Rina Faccio Pierangeliīorn Rina Faccio in 1876, she would watcher her mother commit suicide by defenestration twelve years later. A number of external influences believed to have moved Woolf to this act of self-destruction-including mental health issues-can all be seen as inextricably tied to an incontrovertible systemic failure of patriarchal rule. Woolf is also one of the iconic symbols of the tragic side of feminism in light of her eventual suicide. Woolf would become one of the most significant figures in the burgeoning literary movement known as Modernism as well as one of the most influential innovators of the technique of stream-of-consciousness. Born Virginia Stephen in 1882, her life would literally and symbolically stretch from the repression of the Victorian Era to the dawn of World War II which would result in the first taste of gender equality when millions of women went to jobs outside the home to prove they could do the same work as men.Ī major moment in both Woolf’s actual life and this book itself is when she reads a newspaper article asserting that there had been no first-rate literary accomplishments by a female writer since Sappho. If all roads of feminist literature begin with Sappho, then it is equally true that that they all must pass through Virginia Woolf on the way to their final destination. The opening line of the book asserts the thematic foundation by declaring in the collective voice of the narration that all women taking steps to emancipate themselves from masculine domination are “going to be Sappho.” In this sense, she is much more than a poet or even symbol of feminism, but the embodiment of freedom and salvation.
In addition, she is portrayed as the muse of feminist literature, inspiring countless female writers to rebel against the imposition of male authority. This novel situates Sappho as an Eve-like individual who is the metaphorical mother of all women victimized by patriarchy and misogyny. Her name also gave rise to a noun, sapphist, with a synonym for a lesbian which, in turn, was inspired by the name of the island which the poet called home. She has, over the ensuing millennia also become an iconic figure of female empowerment and feminist ideals. She lived on the island of Lesbos and produced lyric poetry only fragments of which survive today.
The title character, Sappho, was a Greek poet who lived more than five-hundred years before the birth of Christianity. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.