Lina Poletti

Although After Sappho overflows with descriptions of significant lesbians, artists, and feminists from the 19th and 20th centuries, the Italian writer Lina Poletti is perhaps the novel’s most central figure. Lina—whose birth name is Cordula Poletti—is born in 1885 in Ravenna. She becomes interested in writing and literature, often “[outpacing] her classmates in classical subjects” (12). As a child, she eschews many of the conventions of girlhood. During her young adulthood, Lina writes poetry and begins a romantic affair with Sibilla Aleramo. Sibilla tells many of the lesbians in Paris about Lina, whom she describes as a “violent, luminous wave” (68). Lina later becomes romantically involved with the Italian actress Eleonora Duse. Several years later, at the end of World War I, Lina meets Eugenia Rasponi and begins to write passionate manifestos that decry the rise of Fascism in Italy. The collective narrator describes Lina’s political...