Fragment 94 (Sappho)/Fun Home (Alison Bechdel)

As I was thinking of comparisons for my IO, I came across a lot of similarities between Fragment 94 and a few panels from fun home. One of the ideas that I found really interesting that I just want to talk about (as I didn’t end up talking about in my io as it just didn’t really fit with the rest of it) was how both writers draw similarities between sex and loss. They are both very ambiguous ideas.

Bechdel shows several complex layers of grief. She touches upon ideas such as the humorous and lighthearted aspects of grief (such as when she recalls the time she and her brother smiled after hearing about their fathers death or the satirical jokes she makes) Bechdel also talks about sex and how she found sex quite repulsive(like when she found out her dad was having sex with men), but at one point she saw everything from an erotic standpoint (when Joan and her were sexually active). The different sides of these topics shown convey their ambiguity. Sappho’s fragment shows similar ideas. Sappho writes about her past sexual relationship. Her fragment is very ambiguous as it doesn’t have much context, there are gaps in the poem, and it isn’t clear who is addressing who.

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