Staff Reports
Emily Wilson, Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, has announced something few expected: she is redoing her entire English translation of Homer’s Odyssey. Not a tweak, not a new preface — a complete retranslation. She says she’s about halfway through. That confession from the woman whose 2017 version helped bring Homer into modern book clubs and academic syllabi deserves attention — and a little skepticism.
Why a full retranslation matters
Wilson says her methods have changed and that she now sees choices in the 2017 edition she wants to correct. She points to real issues — for example, overusing the single English word “slave” where ancient Greek uses several different terms. She also plans a longer edition to show the varied social worlds in Homer’s poem. “It’s a complete retranslation. It’s not a revision of the old version,” she told the press, and her editor at Liveright, Peter Simon, called her new approach “bound to be thrilling.” That is the polite way publishers signal: sell more copies.
Teachers, textbooks and needless confusion
Here’s a practical worry: college instructors already juggling syllabi and budgets now face two different recent editions by the same translator. Kate Deimling of the American Translators Association says it’s highly unusual for translators to retranslate a full-length work so soon. Wilson herself admits the move is “very controversial” and worries teachers might “curse” her name. You don’t need a Ph.D. to see how schools could be forced to pick editions, change page references, and rewrite assignments — all while paperback budgets and student attention spans get thinner.
Celebrity, culture wars and the long shadow of Nolan
Wilson’s 2017 Odyssey became a bestseller and a culture-war lightning rod. Christopher Nolan cited her opening line as inspiration for his film, and that cinematic attention pushed sales past a million copies. But Wilson hasn’t been shy about criticizing Nolan’s adaptation, calling parts of it “grandiose” and “superficial,” which only fanned the public argument. The bigger point is this: a translation of Homer is not just a scholarly act anymore; it’s fodder for political takes, celebrity plaudits, and online pile-ons. If classical texts are to remain common property, we should be suspicious of the rush to make them platforms for modern ideology.
Final thoughts
Retranslating a masterpiece is either a brave act of scholarly humility or the next episode in the professional reinvention series. Wilson admits she makes mistakes — good. But wholesale republishing of a best-selling translation within a decade raises practical questions about priorities in academia and publishing. Students and teachers deserve clarity, and readers deserve translations that aim to illuminate the past, not rewrite it to suit a moment. If Professor Wilson’s new Odyssey brings clearer language and truer distinctions, fine. But let’s hope the classics survive the modern urge to turn every book into a cultural cudgel.
