Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2: Sexual InversionEllis, Havelock
Science
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2: Sexual Inversion
Ellis, Havelock
Sex; Sex (Psychology)
d'Amour_), Catulle Mendès (_Méphistophéla_), and Willy in the
_Claudine_ series.
Among poets who have used the motive of homosexuality in women
with more or less boldness may be found Lamartine (_Regina_),
Swinburne (first series of _Poems and Ballads_), Verlaine
(_Parallèlement_), and Pierre Louys (_Chansons de Bilitis_). The
last-named book, a collection of homosexual prose-poems,
attracted considerable attention on publication, as it was an
attempt at mystification, being put forward as a translation of
the poems of a newly discovered Oriental Greek poetess; Bilitis
(more usually Beltis) is the Syrian name for Aphrodite. _Les
Chansons de Bilitis_ are not without charm, but have been
severely dealt with by Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (_Sappho und
Simonides_, 1913, p. 63 et seq.) as "a travesty of Hellenism,"
betraying inadequate knowledge of Greek antiquity.
More interesting, as the work of a woman who was not only highly
gifted, but herself of homosexual temperament, are the various
volumes of poems published by "Renée Vivien." This lady, whose
real name was Pauline Tarn, was born in 1877; her father was of
Scotch descent, and her mother an American lady from Honolulu. As
a child she was taken to Paris, and was brought up as a French
girl. She travelled much and at one time took a house at
Mitylene, the chief city of ancient Lesbos. She had a love of
solitude, hated publicity, and was devoted to her women friends,
especially to one whose early death about 1900 was the great
sorrow of Pauline Tarn's life. She is described as very
beautiful, very simple and sweet-natured, and highly accomplished
in many directions. She suffered, however, from nervous
overtension and incurable melancholy. Toward the close of her
life she was converted to Catholicism and died in 1909, at the
age of 32. She is buried in the cemetery at Passy. Her best verse
is by some considered among the finest in the French language.
(Charles Brun, "Pauline Tarn," _Notes and Queries_, 22 Aug.,
1914; the same writer, who knew her well, has also written a
pamphlet, _Renée Vivien_, Sansot, Paris, 1911.) Her chief volumes
of poems are _Etudes et Preludes_ (1901), _Cendres et Poussières_
(1902), _Evocations_ (1903). A novel, _Une Femme M'Apparut_
(1904), is said to be to some extent autobiographical. "Renée
Vivien" also wrote a volume on Sappho with translations, and a
further volume of poems, _Les Kitharèdes_, suggested by the
fragments which remain of the minor women poets of Greece,
followers of Sappho.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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