It was Sappho who first called eros "bittersweet." No one who has been in love disputes her. What does the word mean?
Eros seemed to Sappho at once an experience of pleasure and pain. Here is contradiction and perhaps paradox. To perceive this eros can split the mind in two. Why? The components of the contradiction may seem, at first glance, obvious. We take for granted, as did Sappho, the sweetness of erotic desire; its pleasurability smiles out at us. But the bitterness is less obvious. There might be several reasons why what is sweet should also be bitter. There may be various relations between the two savors. Poets have sorted the matter out in different ways. Sappho's own formulation is a good place to begin tracing the possibilities. The relevant fragment runs:
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
This slim volume consists of numerous brief chapters on various aspects of the Greek concept of Eros, particularly as propounded in lyric poetry (especially that of Sappho) and in Plato's Phaedrus. If the essay has a theme, it is that many Greeks saw Eros as a sense of lack that fruitfully combined both pain and pleasure. This thesis is not new, but the author's style is, combining subtle interpretation with a sometimes startling poetic sensitivity. The result leaves one wondering about the intended audience. The general public may find its textual emphasis and frequently elusive tone an obstacle, while specialists may question the validity of various exegesesor of this theory of Eros, which is only one of many. But overall there is a fine beauty to the work, and it deserves a reading. Thomas M. Robinson, Classics Dept., Univ. of Toronto
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Library Journal 11-15-86
"There is a fine beauty to the work, and it deserves reading."