Reading The Odyssey and The Iliad has always been a goal of mine in my reading and last week I was at a good book store and bought The Iliad, mostly because I thought the dustjacket and yellow hardcover looked very nice. I totally forgot that translations matter a lot in older books.
Anyways the translation is by Emily Wilson. And after investigating a bit, it seems everyone dislikes how modern she’s made the poem. I even saw a reddit post of someone say that Wilson has tried to make the characters relatable to our time, when that shouldn’t be possible. They said that with old pieces of art such as the Iliad we should observe them and see them as alien to our time, and changing it up dramatically to make it accessible is sacrilegious to this poem. I am just repeating what a reddit user said. So far I’ve enjoyed this book a lot, I just fear I’m not going to experience it as I should.
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Thing is I spent almost 50 dollars on this book, and I’m not gonna buy another one anytime soon. Do you guys think it’s a big deal? and I assume I should look for a better translator for the Odyssey.
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I am so excited to read some more epics as well!
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by FantasticAd7970
5 Comments
I have a few friends who study classics and enjoy her work. Definitely read it. You can always read other translations later.
Some of the backlash is that she’s the first woman to translate it and be published, and that gives some perspective on things. Also, we’ve learned more about the culture, and linguistics that it also has an impact on the translation. Every author is going to give it tone however.
Personally, I greatly enjoyed it.
No, everyone does not dislike her. Mainly creepy incel weirdos dislike her because she has the audacity to be a woman.
Her introduction gives a lot of context into why she wrote the book the way she did. That introduction is some of my favorite writing in recent memory, especially as a lifelong lover of mythology.
I just wanna pick apart your idea that you’re “not going to experience it how you should”. Unless you’re gonna learn Ancient Greek, you’re going to rely on translators. Every translator has their own spin and ideas about how Odysseus and other characters are characterized. You can either trust them or find one that you trust, but you’re still going to have to rely on them. After reading Emily Wilson’s introduction, I trust her and her thought process behind her translation choices.
Or to keep it simple: read it and tell us what you think.
I enjoyed this one, but I’ve also read other translations before. Especially with the classics, it’s always worth it to revisit them later in life and then you can always pick a different translation if you so choose.