The Songs of Bilitis

The Songs of Bilitis (/bɪˈliːtɪs/; French: Les Chansons de Bilitis) is a collection of erotic, essentially lesbian, poetry by Pierre Louÿs published in Paris in 1894. Since Louÿs claimed that he had translated the original poetry from Ancient Greek, this work is considered a pseudotranslation.^[1] The poems were actually clever fabulations, authored by Louÿs himself, and are still considered important literature.

The poems are in the manner of Sappho; the collection's introduction claims they were found on the walls of a tomb in Cyprus, written by a woman of Ancient Greece called Bilitis (Greek: Βιλιτις), a courtesan and contemporary of Sappho's to whose life Louÿs dedicated a small section of the book. On publication, the volume deceived even expert scholars.^[2]

Louÿs claimed the 143 prose poems, excluding 3 epitaphs, were entirely the work of this ancient poet—a place where she poured both her most intimate thoughts and most public actions, from childhood innocence in Pamphylia to the loneliness and chagrin of her later years.

Although for the most part The Songs of Bilitis is original work, many of the poems were reworked epigrams from the Palatine Anthology, and Louÿs even borrowed some verses from Sappho herself. The poems are a blend of mellow sensuality and polished style in the manner of Parnassianism, but underneath run subtle Gallic undertones that Louÿs could never escape.

To lend authenticity to the forgery, Louÿs in the index listed some poems as "untranslated"; he even craftily fabricated an entire section of his book called "The Life of Bilitis", crediting a certain fictional archaeologist Herr G. Heim ("Mr. C. Cret" in German) as the discoverer of Bilitis's tomb. And though Louÿs displayed great knowledge of Ancient Greek culture, ranging from children's games in "Tortie Tortue" to application of scents in "Perfumes", the literary fraud was eventually exposed. This did little, however, to taint their literary value in readers' eyes, and Louÿs's open and sympathetic celebration of lesbian sexuality earned him sensation and historic significance.

Background

In 1894 Louÿs, travelling in Italy with his friend Ferdinand Hérold, grandson of the composer (1791–1831) of the same name,^{[3][circular reference]} met André Gide, who described how he had just lost his virginity to a Berber girl named Meriem in the oasis resort-town of Biskra in Algeria; Gide urged his friends to go to Biskra and follow his example. The Songs of Bilitis are the result of Louÿs and Hérold's shared encounter with Meriem the dancing-girl, and the poems are dedicated to Gide with a special mention to "M.b.A", Meriem ben Atala.^[4]

Basic structure

The Songs of Bilitis are separated into three cycles, each representative of a phase of Bilitis's life:

Louÿs dedicated a small section of the book to the fictional character of Bilitis (Greek: Βιλιτις), whom he invented for the book's purpose. He claimed she was a courtesan and contemporary of Sappho's, and the author of the poems that he had translated. He went so far as not only to outline her life in a biographical sketch, but also to describe how her fictional tomb was discovered by a fictional archeological expedition, and include a list of additional, "untranslated", works by her.^[2]

Influence

While the work was eventually shown to be a pseudotranslation by Louÿs, initially it misled a number of scholars, such as Jean Bertheroy [fr], who retranslated several poems without realizing they were fakes.^[2]

Like the poems of Sappho, those of The Songs of Bilitis address themselves to

In 1955, the

• In 1897, Louÿs's close friend
  Six Epigraphes Antiques
  in 1914.
• French composer and pianist Rita Strohl composed her settings of 12 Chansons de Bilitis in 1898. They were performed by Jane Bathori. There is a modern recording by Marianne Croux and Anne Bertin-Hugault.^[7]
• French composer Charles Koechlin completed his five Chansons de Bilitis, Op.39 between 1898 and 1908. The first complete performance was on 29 January 1918 by Jane Bathori and Andrée Vaurabourg. They were published in 1923.^[8]
• Brazilian composer Luciano Gallet set his Deux chansons de Bilitis for three voices and piano in 1920.
• Polish composer Roman Maciejewski published The Songs of Bilitis (translated into Polish by Leopold Staff) for soprano & orchestra in 1935.^[2]
• Joseph Kosma's comédie musicale (or operetta) Les chansons de Bilitis was produced in Paris in 1954 at the Théâtre des Capucines.^[9]
• sexploitation
  film titled Take Me Naked which features narrated passages from The Songs of Bilitis. In the film, the main character is shown in bed reading the collected works of Pierre Louÿs. He then has a series of erotic dreams depicting nude or scantily dressed women while a female voice narrates passages of the Bilitis poetry.
• The 1977 French film
  David Hamilton and starring Patti D'Arbanville and Mona Kristensen, was based on Louÿs's book, as stated in the opening credits. It concerns a twentieth century girl and her sexual awakening, but the British magazine Time Out said that, "surprisingly, a strong hint of Louys' erotic spirit survives, transmitted mainly through the effective playing and poise of the two leading characters."^[10]
• More recently Songs of Bilitis, a play adapted from the poems by Katie Polebaum with music by Ego Plum, was performed by Rogue Artists Ensemble under a commission from the Getty Villa in Los Angeles.