GordonвЂ™s Introduction fulfils several functions in the volume: (1) it is a terse commentary on an expansive range of social and scholarly concerns that have surrounded, and at times obfuscated, SapphoвЂ™s fragments (2) it is an explanation of methods employed to вЂњrecoverвЂќ (in both textual and cultural senses of the word ) SapphoвЂ™s poetry and (3) it is an annotated bibliography of recent scholarly work done on the fragments of Sappho. I should mention straightway that I spotted almost no typos or misprints, and I was impressed with the excellent level of editorship throughout. I will comment on each of the sections individually. The dominant and characteristic interest shared by both Lombardo as translator and Gordon as introducer (also, as well by David Frederick and Kirsten Day, respectively the designer and the photographer of the two montage images which decorate the text) is their concerted effort to validate вЂњfragments as esthetic wholesвЂќ (xxvi). These four sections work remarkably well together, presenting the fragments of Sappho according to вЂњthe idea of the isolated messageвЂќ (xvii). There are four sections to the book: (1) a twenty page Introduction by Pamela Gordon, (2) a two page TranslatorвЂ™s Note, (3) the translations of the fragments, and (4) five pages of Notes on Ancient Sources of the fragments, including brief descriptions of the authors and works from which the fragments have been taken, estimated dates of the papyri, and a concordance to Campbell for each translation. As with LombardoвЂ™s previous translations (perhaps most evident in the stylization of the narratorвЂ™s voice in his Works and Days ), this translation is marked by its attempts to render the particular voicing and tone of the author being translated. The method of prosody utilized is, in LombardoвЂ™s words (xxvii), based upon an interest in вЂњthe rhythmic phrase as the main structural elementвЂќ rather than any attempt to duplicate SapphoвЂ™s meters or to move SapphoвЂ™s lines into a traditional English meter such as iambic pentameter. The reader is invited to contemplate and enjoy the gaps of the text of LombardoвЂ™s translations as part of the pleasure of reading and interpreting the text itself. In fact, LombardoвЂ™s translations are pleasantly distinct from those of any others that I am aware of both for their sonorous but straightforward rendering in a modern spoken American English, and for being unencumbered by footnotes, editorial marks, or even page numbers (I have more to say about both of these characteristics below). It perhaps most resembles the size and ambitions of Josephine BalmerвЂ™s (1992) Sappho: Poems & Fragments, Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books, though LombardoвЂ™s volume is better both for its clear translations, and for the breadth, depth, and up to date bibliography of the critical introduction provided by Pamela Gordon, LombardoвЂ™s colleague at the University of Kansas. Like several other volumes of SapphoвЂ™s verse currently available in paperback English translation, this book is affordably priced and of compact size, and Hackett has also provided this volume with a sturdily glued spine (which, beyond my expectations, gracefully endured the contortions of repeated back-bending and folding as I prepared this review) - all features relevant to classroom use.

The fragments are newly arranged and numbered by Lombardo, but the notes at the back of the book include a concordance to the numeration of CampbellвЂ™s (1982) Greek Lyric, Volume I: Sappho and Alcaeus (Cambridge: Harvard University Press), which is also the source of the Greek translated.

Perhaps most importantly, its simplicity lends itself equally to reading for pleasure or for learning. The simplicity of the bookвЂ™s presentation and organization makes it readily accessible and easy to compare to other editions of Sappho. The volume as a whole is well suited for teaching Sappho in translation at the undergraduate level. This translation of seventy three fragments of Sappho 1 by Stanley Lombardo makes a unique and welcome contribution to the diversity of English translations available.

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