28. Anne Lister Goes to TGIFemslash

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Welcome to Gretchen and Leigh’s annual episode hosted live at TGIFemslash! This is the con where it all began, and what better way to celebrate our origins than with the ‘first modern lesbian’, Anne Lister! The protagonist of HBO’s Gentleman Jack, Anne Lister was a 19th century British gentewoman who wanted to live as the 19th century British gentlemen did, including loving and marrying women, which she wrote extensively about in her diaries, but in a secret code. So join us as we learn more about her life, her loves, and her diaries, and you can even play along with the games we hosted live at TGI!

If you would like to get involved in the Anne Lister Transcription Project, head over to their website!

This year, we decided to literally bring our subject to life. AKA, Leigh revived their Anne Lister/Gentleman Jack Halloween costume and we had some fun!

Leigh and Gretchen getting set up for their panel at TGIFemslash

Leigh and Gretchen getting set up for their panel at TGIFemslash

Anne Lister and Thermometer with fans!

Anne Lister and Thermometer with fans!

A Closer Look at Anne Lister

Portrait of Anne Lister by John Horner (ca 1830).

Portrait of Anne Lister by John Horner (ca 1830).

portrait of Lister, probably by Mrs Turner of Halifax (1822).

portrait of Lister, probably by Mrs Turner of Halifax (1822).

One of Anne Lister’s many diaries in all it’s glory.

One of Anne Lister’s many diaries in all it’s glory.

A close up page from Anne Lister’s Diary, dated May 28, 1817. (note the cross in the margin!)

A close up page from Anne Lister’s Diary, dated May 28, 1817. (note the cross in the margin!)

The Anne Liste code.

The Anne Liste code.

Modern day shibden Hall.

Modern day shibden Hall.

Play along with us and try your hand at Who Wants to Be a 19th Century Lesbian!

19th century lesbian

If you want to learn more about the Anne Lister and her diaries, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Books

  • Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister by Anne Choma

  • I Know My Own Heart: The Diaries of Anne Lister 1791–1840 edited by Helena Whitbread

  • No Priest But Love: Excerpts from the Diaries of Anne Lister edited by Helena Whitbread

  • The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister edited by Helena Whitbread

  • Presenting the Past: Anne Lister of Halifax, 1791–1840 by Jill Liddington

  • Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority: The Anne Lister Diaries and Other Writings, 1833–36 by Jill Liddington

  • Anne Lister's Secret Diary for 1817 by Patricia Hughs

  • The Secret Life of Miss Anne Lister and the Curious Tale of Miss Eliza Raine by Patricia Hughs

  • Miss Lister of Shibden Hall: Selected Letters (1800–1840) by Muriel Green

  • Gentleman Jack. A Biography of Anne Lister: Regency Landowner, Seducer and Secret Diarist by Angela Steidele

  • Intimate Friends: Women Who Loved Women, 1778–1928 by Martha Vicinus

Print and Online Articles 

Oh god there are so many articles from right around when the tv series was getting attention, so we’ve selected a sampling. Just Google “Gentleman Jack” or “Anne Lister” and you’ll get dozens more.

Videos

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

27. Sappho: F*cking Superb, You Funky Little Lesbian

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At long last, hosts Gretchen and Leigh are going back to the beginning, to the OG lesbian: Sappho herself. Despite the dearth of information about her life and history, your hosts still find plenty to say about Sappho, her poetry, her legacy, and all the debate that’s circled around her for years. Was she a ‘school mistress’? Was she actually a man? Did she really have a husband or throw herself from a cliff? Find out what Leigh and Gretchen think and listen to fragmentary poetry filled with queer longing and other relatable feels like fire burning beneath flesh, wind crashing through mountain oaks, and…celery.

We’ll start off with one of the poems we didn’t discuss in the episode, but is a piece of writing that forms the basis for why we do this show. As Sappho writes in Fragment 147,

someone will remember us
I say
even in another time

A Closer Look at Sappho

Painting of Sappho by the “Sappho Painter” (circaa 510 BCE).

Painting of Sappho by the “Sappho Painter” (circaa 510 BCE).

Sappho depicted holding a plectrum and lyre on the side of a vase (circa 470 BCE).

Sappho depicted holding a plectrum and lyre on the side of a vase (circa 470 BCE).

Head of a female figure widely believed to be a copy of the 4th Century BCE portrait of Sappho by Silanion.

Head of a female figure widely believed to be a copy of the 4th Century BCE portrait of Sappho by Silanion.

Roman scupture of Sappho (5th Century BCE). Inscription reads “Sappho of Eresos.”

Roman scupture of Sappho (5th Century BCE). Inscription reads “Sappho of Eresos.”

“woman with Wax Tablets and Stylus,” a Fresco from Pompeii (circa 55-79 CE). IT is frequently called “Sappho,” though we have no idea if the artist meant it as a portrait of the poet or not.

“woman with Wax Tablets and Stylus,” a Fresco from Pompeii (circa 55-79 CE). IT is frequently called “Sappho,” though we have no idea if the artist meant it as a portrait of the poet or not.

Fragment 58 (tithonus poem). Unfortunately, this is what a lot of Sappho’s poetry looks like, though usually even worse for the wear. :(

Fragment 58 (tithonus poem). Unfortunately, this is what a lot of Sappho’s poetry looks like, though usually even worse for the wear. :(

Woodcut of Sappho from Giovanni Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris (circa 1541).

Woodcut of Sappho from Giovanni Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris (circa 1541).

Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene by Simeon Solomon (1864).

Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene by Simeon Solomon (1864).

Sappho, by Charles Mengin (1877).

Sappho, by Charles Mengin (1877).

Sappho by Amanda brewster Sewell (1891).

Sappho by Amanda brewster Sewell (1891).

Sappho by Francis Coates Jones (1895).

Sappho by Francis Coates Jones (1895).

Sappho of Lesbos by John William Godward (1904).

Sappho of Lesbos by John William Godward (1904).

The Sapphic Stanza

Sappho not only wrote beautiful, haunting poems, but invented an entirely unique poetic form, appropriately named after her! Composed of two hendecasyllabic (eleven syllables) verses, and then a third verse beginning the same way and continuing with five more syllables (sometimes written as a fourth line), it gave Sappho’s poetry its lyrical nature.

Using "–" for a long syllable, "∪" for a short syllable, and "x" for a free syllable, the meter looked like this:

– ∪ – x – ∪ ∪ – ∪ – –

– ∪ – x – ∪ ∪ – ∪ – –

– ∪ – x – ∪ ∪ – ∪ – –

– ∪ ∪ – –

The Mixolydian Mode

This link also has some great information about another invention of Sappho’s: the Mixolydian Mode, which is a musical scale that is still in use today, although heavily altered through history!

What did Sappho’s poetry sound like?

Sappho’s poetry was meant to be recited to the sound of an ancient Greek instrument called a lyre, sometimes made from tortoise-shell, and looked like this:

lyre.PNG



She references the instrument in her poetry often, like in this fragment:

I took my lyre and said:
Come now, my heavenly
tortoise shell: become
a speaking instrument

And in the below video, you can see a modern replica of an ancient Greek tortoise-shell lyre, and hear what it would have sounded like, also being plucked and strummed with a plectrum, the picking instrument also credited as an invention of Sappho’s! A musical genius! The person in the video is Michael Levy, a musician who records and interprets ancient Greek lyre music:


Here’s a video of someone’s recorded interpretation of a Sapphic wedding hymn:

And here’s some more of Michael Levy’s music, with several different hymns and songs on lyre:

As a special bonus, two of our amazing listeners created a Sappho poetry generator you can play around with, as referenced in this episode!

Check it out here!

If you want to learn more about the Sappho, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles:

Books and Print Articles:

Translations of Sappho’s Poetry Used in this Episode:

  • Sappho: A New Translation translated by Mary Barnard

  • If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho translated by Anne Carson

  • Sappho: A New Translation of the Complete Works translated by Diane Rayor

  • Hymn to Aphrodite

  • Poems of Sappho

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!