Lesbos

The Greek island of Lesbos serves as a symbol of idyllic queer love in After Sappho. The titular poet spent her life on the island; her poetry recounts moments of passionate and sensuous lesbian desire. The characters in the novel look to Sappho as an ancestor, a hero, an icon, and a prophetess. They return to Lesbos on journeys that greatly resemble pilgrimages, hoping to connect—in an intimate and tangible way—with their personal and poetic idol. In this way, the island itself emerges as a kind of lost paradise, a physical representation of the world that the lesbians and feminists hope to regain.

Waves

In After Sappho, the image of a wave continually represents Lina Poletti’s fearless and trailblazing nature. When Sibilla first travels to Paris, she describes Lina to others as a “violent, luminous wave” (68). The image repeats throughout the novel; in...