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Emily Wilson's 'Odyssey' Became a Cultural Flashpoint. Now, She's Retranslating the Whole Thing
Wilson says the new edition will be longer and reflect the poem’s differing social worlds, after her 2017 translation became a bestseller.
- University of Pennsylvania professor Emily Wilson announced she will retranslate The Odyssey, departing from her celebrated 2017 bestseller to better reflect the differing social worlds of Homer's epic poem.
- Wilson says her translation methods have become more sophisticated since 2017, admitting she overused the word "Slave" when ancient Greek had different terms for enslaved people. This evolution prompted the retranslation.
- Kate Deimling of the American Translators Association called the retranslation rare, saying she cannot "come up with a previous example of this situation." Liveright Publishing editor Peter Simon called the approach "thrilling."
- Wilson called her decision "very controversial," expressing concern that having two recent editions by the same translator would challenge teachers and hoping they will not "curse" her name.
- Her new essay collection, Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea, arrived Tuesday with blurbs from Salman Rushdie and Madeline Miller, featuring assessments of modern editions by Daniel Mendelsohn and Robert Fagles.
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Translator whose Odyssey line inspired Nolan’s film is redoing book
Emily Wilson, the classicist whose 2017 translation of Homer's "The Odyssey" became a bestseller, the basis for Christopher Nolan's movie and a flashpoint in the culture wars, is throwing out that version and starting over.
·Washington, United States
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If you are among the many readers who learned to love “The Odyssey” thanks to Emily Wilson’s 2017 translation, you may be surprised that she will translate it again.
Emily Wilson, the translator of "L'Odyssée" who has made Homer's work known to many readers thanks to her English version published in 2017, is about to translate it again.
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Leaning Left12Leaning Right3Center10Last UpdatedBias Distribution48% Left
Bias Distribution
- 48% of the sources lean Left
48% Left
L 48%
C 40%
12%
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