The Woman with the Wolf

Renée Vivien (1877-1909) was a British-born poet who wrote almost exclusively in French, becoming one of the most striking voices of the fin-de-siècle Paris literary scene. Born Pauline Mary Tarn in London, she moved to Paris as a young woman and reinvented herself as a poet steeped in classical antiquity, openly writing of love between women at a time when doing so took real courage. A devoted admirer of Sappho, she taught herself ancient Greek to translate the poet's surviving fragments, publishing her landmark Sapho in 1903. Vivien died at just 32, leaving behind a body of work that helped lay the foundation for openly lesbian literature in the twentieth century.

Karla Jay has written, edited, and translated nine books, the most recent of which are Dyke Life and Lesbian Erotics. Dyke Life won the 1996 Lambda Literary Award in the category of Lesbian Studies. She is editor of NYU Press's series, ""The Cutting Edge: Lesbian Life and Literature."" This is the only lesbian studies series in the world from a university press. In existence since 1992, the series now spans some 20 books of original criticism, reprints, translations and recovered archival letters and manuscripts. Dr. Jay has written for many publications, including Ms. Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The Village Voice, and Lambda Book Report. She is Professor of English and Director of Women's Studies at Pace University in New York City. She is currently at work on two books, Ten Decades of Struggle: Gay and Lesbian Life in the United States (Oxford UP) and Tales of the lavender Menace (Basic).