Classicist Emily Wilson to Re-translate the Odyssey from Scratch
Emily Wilson, whose 2017 English translation of the Odyssey sold over a million copies, announced she is undertaking a complete new translation of the epic, citing advances in her scholarly approach.
University of Pennsylvania classicist Emily Wilson said she is midway through a full retranslation of Homer's Odyssey, a project she described as "a complete retranslation, not a revision of the old version." Wilson, whose 2017 English version has sold more than a million copies, explained that she wants the new edition to reflect her evolved translation methods and to align stylistically with her recent Iliad translation, featuring looser pacing and expanded endnotes. She noted that the earlier work used terms such as "slave" despite the ancient Greek language offering more nuanced options, prompting her to start anew rather than make incremental changes. Translation scholars said that reworking one's own published translation is uncommon but anticipate strong interest from readers and academics.
"It's a complete retranslation. It's not a revision of the old version," Wilson told the Associated Press.
The initiative follows Wilson's earlier public criticism of a Christopher Nolan film that had cited her book, a controversy that raised her profile beyond academic circles.