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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The Myth of Eros in Michael Field’s Sapphic Project: from a New Materialism to a Tragic Determinism

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espanolEl objetivo de este articulo consiste en examinar como Katharine Bradley y su sobrina Edith Cooper reinterpretan la figura de Safo en conexion directa con el mito de Eros en Long Ago (1889), el primer poemario que compusieron bajo el pseudonimo de Michael Field. Con este proposito en mente, seleccionamos una serie de poemas dirigidos a la deidad griega del amor, realizamos un analisis detallado de los mismos y demostramos que las Fields componen una mitografia dramatica que explora la identidad paradojica del dios y, al mismo tiempo, revela toda una verdad intemporal inherente al propio mito de Eros: el amor constituye un fenomeno ambivalente que crea, inspira y eleva tanto como destruye, oprime y mata. EnglishThe purpose of this paper is to examine how Katharine Bradley and her niece Edith Cooper reinterpret the figure of Sappho in direct connection with the myth of Eros in Long Ago (1889), their first volume of lyrics written under the pen name of Michael Field. To this end, I select a series of poems addressed to the Greek deity of love, offer a close reading thereof, and prove that the Fields compose a dramatic mythography that explores the god’s paradoxical identity and, in so doing, reveals a timeless truth contained in the very essence of the Eros myth: love is an ambivalent phenomenon that creates, inspires and elevates as much as it destroys, oppresses, and kills.