''The Songs of Bilitis'' (; french: Les Chansons de Bilitis) is a collection of erotic, essentially

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

, poetry by

Pierre Louÿs Pierre Louÿs (; 10 December 1870 – 4 June 1925) was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who sought to "express pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection". ...

published in Paris in 1894. Since Louÿs claimed that he had translated the original poetry from Ancient Greek, this work is considered a

pseudotranslation In literature, a pseudotranslation is a text written as if it had been translated from a foreign language, even though no foreign language original exists. History The practice of writing works which falsely claimed to be translations began in me ...

. The poems were actually clever fabulations, authored by Louÿs himself, and are still considered important literature. The poems are in the manner of

Sappho Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...

; the collection's introduction claims they were found on the walls of a

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, written by a woman of

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

called Bilitis (), a

courtesan Courtesan, in modern usage, is a euphemism for a "kept" mistress (lover), mistress or prostitute, particularly one with wealthy, powerful, or influential clients. The term historically referred to a courtier, a person who attended the Royal cour ...

and contemporary of Sappho to whose life Louÿs dedicated a small section of the book. On publication, the volume deceived even expert scholars. 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 Pamphylia (; grc, Παμφυλία, ''Pamphylía'') was a region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the north by ...

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 The ''Palatine Anthology'' (or ''Anthologia Palatina''), sometimes abbreviated ''AP'', is the collection of Greek poems and epigrams discovered in 1606 in the Palatine Library in Heidelberg. It is based on the lost collection of Constantinus Ceph ...

'', 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 Parnassianism (or Parnassism) was a French literary style that began during the positivist period of the 19th century, occurring after romanticism and prior to symbolism. The style was influenced by the author Théophile Gautier as well as by th ...

, 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' 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' 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, met

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the Symbolism (arts), symbolist movement, to the advent o ...

, who described how he had just lost his virginity to a Berber girl named Meriem in the oasis resort-town of

Biskra Biskra ( ar, بسكرة ; ; Latin Vescera) is the capital city of Biskra Province, Algeria. In 2007, its population was recorded as 307,987. Biskra is located in northeastern Algeria, about 248 miles (400 km) from Algiers, 71 miles (115&nbs ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

; 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.

Basic structure

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

Bucolic A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

s in Pamphylia—childhood and first sexual encounters,

Elegies An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

at Mytilene—indulgence in homosexual sensuality, and

Epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

s in the Isle of Cyprus—life as a courtesan. Each cycle progresses toward a melancholy conclusion, each conclusion signalling a new, more complex chapter of experience, emotion, and sexual exploration. Each of these melancholy conclusions is demarcated by a tragic turn in Bilitis' relationships with others. In the first stage of her life, Bucolics, she falls in love with a young man but is then raped by him after he comes upon her napping in the woods; she marries him and has a child by him, but his abusive behavior compels her to abandon the relationship. In the second stage (Elegies) her relationship with her beloved Mnasidika turns cold and ends in estrangement, prompting her to relocate once again. Finally, in the Epigrams in the Isle of Cyprus, despite her fame she finds herself longing for Mnasidika. Ultimately she and her beauty are largely forgotten; she pens her poems in silent obscurity, resolute in her knowledge that "those who will love when

he is He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

gone will sing ersongs together, in the dark." One of Louÿs' technical accomplishments was to coincide Bilitis' growing maturity and emotional complexity with her changing views of divinity and the world around her—after leaving Pamphylia and Mytilene, she becomes involved in intricate mysteries, moving away from a mythical world inhabited by satyrs and Naiads. This change is perhaps best reflected by the symbolic death of the satyrs and Naiads in "The Tomb of the Naiads".

Bilitis

Louÿs dedicated a small section of the book to the fictional character of Bilitis (), whom he invented for the book's purpose. He claimed she was a

and contemporary of

, and the author of the poems he translated. He went so far as to not only 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.

Influence

While the work was eventually shown to be a

by Louÿs, initially it mislead a number of scholars, such as , who retranslated several poems without realizing they were fakes. Like the poems of Sappho, those of ''The Songs of Bilitis'' address themselves to

Sapphic love Terms used to describe homosexuality have gone through many changes since the emergence of the first terms in the mid-19th century. In English, some terms in widespread use have been sodomite, Achillean, Sapphic, Uranian, homophile, lesbian, g ...

. The book became a sought-after cult item among the 20th-century

underground and was only reprinted officially in the 1970s. The expanded French second edition is reprinted in facsimile by

Dover Books Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books ...

in America. This second edition had a title page that read: "This little book of antique love is respectfully dedicated to the young women of a future society." In 1955 the

Daughters of Bilitis The Daughters of Bilitis , also called the DOB or the Daughters, was the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. The organization, formed in San Francisco in 1955, was conceived as a social alternative to lesb ...

was founded in San Francisco as the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

civil and political rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

organization in the United States. In regard to its name,

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon Dorothy Louise Taliaferro "Del" Martin (May 5, 1921 – August 27, 2008) and Phyllis Ann Lyon (November 10, 1924 – April 9, 2020) were an American lesbian couple known as feminist and gay-rights activists. Martin and Lyon met in 1950 ...

, two of the group's founders, said "If anyone asked us, we could always say we belong to a poetry club."

Adaptations

*Louÿs' close friend

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

in 1897 musically set three of the poems—''La flûte de Pan'', ''La chevelure'' and ''Le tombeau des Naïades''—as songs for female voice and piano. The composer returned to the collection in a more elaborate fashion in 1900, creating ''Musique de scène pour les chansons de bilitis'' (also known as ''Chansons de bilitis'') for recitation of twelve of Louÿs' poems. These pieces were scored for two flutes, two harps and

celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ( ...

. According to contemporary sources the recitation and music were accompanied by ''tableaux vivants'' as well. Apparently only one private performance of the entire creation took place, in Venice. Debussy did not publish the score in his lifetime, but later adapted six of the twelve for piano as ''

Six Epigraphes Antiques 6 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 6 or six may also refer to: * AD 6, the sixth year of the AD era * 6 BC, the sixth year before the AD era * The month of June Science * Carbon, the element with atomic number 6 * 6 Hebe, an asteroid Peop ...

'' in 1914. *

's ''Chansons de Bilitis'' received its first performance on February 7, 1901 in Paris. Based on poems by Pierre Louys, this piece is scored for two flutes, two harps and celesta but is different from another work of the same name by Debussy, which is a group of songs. Today's performance includes narrator and mime; Debussy later incorporates the music into his ''

'' for piano duo. *In 1932

Roman Maciejewski Roman Maciejewski (28 February 1910 in Berlin, Germany – 30 April 1998 in Gothenburg, Sweden) was a Polish composer. His mother, Bronisława Maciejewska, was a talented violinist and music teacher who taught him to play piano. He studied in Ste ...

set some poems to music as well. *

Joseph Kosma Joseph Kosma (22 October 19057 August 1969) was a Hungarian-French composer. Biography Kosma was born József Kozma in Budapest, where his parents taught stenography and typing. He had a brother, Ákos. A maternal relative was the photographe ...

wrote the 1954 ''comédie musicale'' (or operetta) ''Les chansons de Bilitis'' for soloists and piano. * Michael Findlay and

Roberta Findlay Roberta Findlay (née Hershkowitz; born 1948) is an American film director, cinematographer, producer and actress. She is best known for her work in the exploitation field. Her work has received increasing critical appreciation in recent years. ...

made a 1966

sexploitation A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit s ...

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 '' Bilitis'', directed by David Hamilton and starring

Patti D'Arbanville Patricia D'Arbanville is an American actress known for her appearance in Andy Warhol projects. Career After ''Flesh'', D'Arbanville performed in Warhol's '' L'Amour'' (1973), and as the title character in the David Hamilton film '' Bilitis'' ...

and Mona Kristensen, was based on Louÿs' book, as stated in the opening credits. It concerns a twentieth century girl and her sexual awakening, but the British magazine ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an enginee ...

'' said that, "surprisingly, a strong hint of Louys' erotic spirit survives, transmitted mainly through the effective playing and poise of the two leading characters." *More recently ''Songs of Bilitis'', a play adapted from the poems by Katie Polebaum with music by

Ego Plum Ego Plum (born February 27, 1975) is an American film composer, musician, and performer. He is best known for his work on ''The Cuphead Show!,'' ''The Patrick Star Show,'' '' Kamp Koral,'' ''SpongeBob SquarePants,'' ''Jellystone!,'' '' Making Fi ...

, was performed by

Rogue Artists Ensemble Rogue Artists Ensemble is a theater company based in Los Angeles, California that specializes in “Hyper-theatrical” performance. According to the mission statement on the company’s official website: Rogue Artists Ensemble is a collective of ...

under a commission from the

Getty Villa The Getty Villa is at the easterly end of the Malibu coast in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. One of two campuses of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Villa is an educational center and museum dedi ...

in Los Angeles.

Translations

The book was translated to Polish twice, in 1920 by

Leopold Staff Leopold Henryk Staff (November 14, 1878 – May 31, 1957) was a Polish poet; an artist of European modernism twice granted the Degree of Doctor honoris causa by universities in Warsaw and in Kraków. He was also nominated for the Nobel Prize i ...

and in 2010 by

Robert Stiller Robert Reuven Stiller (25 January 1928 – 10 December 2016) was a Polish polyglot, writer, poet, translator, and editor. Life Robert Stiller was born in Warsaw, Poland, to Polish parents and spent his early childhood in what is now Belarus. His f ...

. English translations: *Horace Manchester Brown in 1904. "Privately printed for members of The Aldus Society" (https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24152668M/The_songs_of_Bilitis) *Alvah C. Bessie in 1926. "Privately printed for subscribers" (https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/sob/sob000.htm) *H.M. Bird in 1931. Argus Books. *J. Rolf in 2013.

Illustrations

''The Songs of Bilitis'' has been illustrated extensively by numerous artists. The most famous illustrator to grace the collection with his drawings was

Louis Icart Louis Icart (born 9 December 1888 in Toulouse, died 20 December 1950 in Paris)''Louis Icart''.
In: RKD-Nederlands Instituu ...

, while the most famous illustrations were done by

Willy Pogany William Andrew Pogany (born Vilmos András Pogány; August 24, 1882 – July 30, 1955) was a prolific Hungarian illustrator of children's and other books. His contemporaries include C. Coles Phillips, Joseph Clement Coll, Edmund Dulac, Harvey Du ...

for a 1926 privately circulated English language translation: drawn in an

art-deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the United ...

style, with numerous visual puns on sexual objects. Other artists have been

Georges Barbier George Barbier (), né Georges Augustin Barbier, (1882–1932) was one of the great French illustrators of the early 20th century. Biography Born in Nantes, France on 16 October 1882, Barbier was 29 years old when he mounted his first exhib ...

, Edouard Chimot,

Jeanne Mammen Jeanne Mammen (21 November 1890 – 22 April 1976) was a German painter and illustrator of the Weimar period. Her work is associated with the New Objectivity and Symbolism movements. She is best known for her depictions of strong, sensual women ...

Pascal Pia Pascal Pia (15 August 1903, Paris – 27 September 1979, Paris), born Pierre Durand, was a French writer, journalist, illustrator and scholar. He also used the pseudonyms Pascal Rose, Pascal Fely and others. In 1922 he published the erotic ...

Joseph Kuhn-Régnier Joseph Kuhn-Régnier, born Joseph Louis Wilfrid Kuhn-Regnier (10 December 1873 - 1940), was a French illustrator who worked in Paris. His work is recognizable by his characters inspired by Greek and classical art. He contributed full-page colored ...

Sigismunds Vidbergs Sigismunds Vidbergs (1890, Jelgava – 1970, River Edge, New Jersey) was a Latvian artist. Biography Sigismunds Vidbergs came from an upper middle class family in Jelgava, where his father was a civil servant. He was encouraged to study art by his ...

, Pierre Leroy, Alméry Lobel Riche, Suzanne Ballivet, Pierre Lissac, Paul-Emile Bécat, Monique Rouver, Génia Minache, Lucio Milandre, A-E Marty, J.A. Bresval, James Fagan and Albert Gaeng from Geneva.

References

External links

''The Songs of Bilitis''
full text of 1926 English translation by Alvah C. Bessie
Rogue Artists Ensemble's theatrical adaptation ''The Songs of Bilitis''

Debussy's ''Trois Chansons de Bilitis''
performed by

Sasha Cooke Sasha Cooke is an American mezzo-soprano. Cooke was born in Riverside, California, and grew up in College Station, Texas, where her parents are professors of Russian at Texas A&M University. She earned a bachelor's degree from Rice University and ...

(mezzo-soprano) and Pei-Yao Wang (piano) at the

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded ...

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

format {{DEFAULTSORT:Songs Of Bilitis 1894 books French poetry collections Literary forgeries Erotic poetry LGBT literature in France Ancient Greece in art and culture Ancient Greek erotic literature 1890s LGBT literature Works by Pierre Louÿs LGBT poetry