Michael Field's Sapphism: An Ontology of the Feminine in "Long Ago" (1889)

Abstract

espanolEste articulo analiza la valiosa contribucion que Katherine Bradley y su sobrina Edith Cooper realizaron a la vasta tradicion del Safismo queer con Long Ago (1889), su primer poemario publicado bajo el pseudonimo compartido de Michael Field. Partiendo de la idea, ya consolidada en la critica contemporanea, de que este poemario constituye un ejemplo original de escritura lesbica, arguiremos que Long Ago no solo reivindica y se apropia de la figura de Safo como arquetipo lesbico, sino que incluso postula una teoria de genero transgresora que define lo femenino como el principio esencial del vitalismo, lo masculino como la representacion misma de la muerte y lo homoerotico como la modalidad mas genuina del amor. EnglishThis article examines the valuable contribution that Katherine Bradley and her niece Edith Cooper made to the vast tradition of queer Sapphism in Long Ago (1889), their first volume of poetry published under the collaborative pseudonym of Michael Field. Taking as my starting point the well-established assumption among contemporary critics that this volume represents an original instance of lesbian writing, I seek to argue that Long Ago not only appropriates and celebrates the figure of Sappho as a lesbian archetype, it also proposes a subversive gender theory that conceptualises the feminine as the essential principle of vitalism, the masculine as the very representation of death, and homoeroticism as the most genuine form of love.