1 month from today, Emily Wilson’s translation of the Iliad comes out.
In 2017, she became the first woman ever to translate the Odyssey into English
I want to be careful with my words here: her translation was abominable, a crime against the classics. Now she’s back
Part 1:
In 2017, she became the first woman ever to translate the Odyssey into English
I want to be careful with my words here: her translation was abominable, a crime against the classics. Now she’s back
Part 1:
I hesitate to use cliche, but “Woke Homer” wouldn’t be a *bad* description of Wilson’s work.
Before examining the translation, let’s look at her public comments and motive.
Here she is writing in the New Yorker:
“The Odyssey traces deep male fears about female power”
Before examining the translation, let’s look at her public comments and motive.
Here she is writing in the New Yorker:
“The Odyssey traces deep male fears about female power”
The New York Times Magazine interview with Wilson doesn’t leave any mystery as to her agenda:
“The classicist Emily Wilson has given Homer’s epic a radically contemporary voice”
Radical indeed.
“The classicist Emily Wilson has given Homer’s epic a radically contemporary voice”
Radical indeed.
She has attacked male translators for “gender bias”
She says she examined her identity as “a cis-gendered woman” and “gender-aware feminist” when doing the translation.
The classics are being strangled by critical theory
She says she examined her identity as “a cis-gendered woman” and “gender-aware feminist” when doing the translation.
The classics are being strangled by critical theory
Eidolon, the now-defunct foundation started by Donna Zuckerberg to promote wokeness in the study of Greek and Roman literature, praised Wilson for deliberately changing the meaning of passages through feminist translation.
Disclaimer: I took a year of classical Greek at Stanford
I was an average student, definitely not as good as the experts here, including Wilson herself. I couldn't translate it myself
But I think you will see that many of my criticisms don’t require any knowledge of Greek
I was an average student, definitely not as good as the experts here, including Wilson herself. I couldn't translate it myself
But I think you will see that many of my criticisms don’t require any knowledge of Greek
Her translation of the first lines of the Odyssey is so bad that I don’t even know where to start
I almost wonder if I’m contributing to the crime by even commenting on it.
This is it — but in order to set up just how bad it is, you need to look at a few normal translations.
I almost wonder if I’m contributing to the crime by even commenting on it.
This is it — but in order to set up just how bad it is, you need to look at a few normal translations.
To my mind, there are four great Homeric translators of the 20th century. They are all American men:
Richmond Lattimore
Robert Fitzgerald
Robert Fagles
Stanley Lombardo
For reasons I will explain, Lombardo is my favorite.
Richmond Lattimore
Robert Fitzgerald
Robert Fagles
Stanley Lombardo
For reasons I will explain, Lombardo is my favorite.
Of the four, my least favorite Odyssey opening is Lattimore. He maintains a meter *approximating* the original Greek dactylic hexameter, with 14 syllables in most lines.
Hexameter is better in Greek than English; sometimes he has to add extra words but it’s good.
Hexameter is better in Greek than English; sometimes he has to add extra words but it’s good.
Fitzgerald splits the lines up a bit more, producing a natural English rhythm regardless of the number of lines or their syllabic length.
Nothing shockingly different here.
Nothing shockingly different here.
Robert Fagles is really good — a brilliant poet in his own right. Two beautiful alliterative phrases stand out:
“the man of twists and turns”
“the hallowed heights of Troy”
“the man of twists and turns”
“the hallowed heights of Troy”
Lombardo is much more liberal. It is modern and designed to be performed aloud. He opens with an allusion:
SPEAK, MEMORY —
(the title of Vladimir Nabokov’s memoir. It’s a nod to the American canon.)
Lombardo shows you *can* stray from the original Greek quite artfully.
SPEAK, MEMORY —
(the title of Vladimir Nabokov’s memoir. It’s a nod to the American canon.)
Lombardo shows you *can* stray from the original Greek quite artfully.
The "Speak, Memory" reminds me of C. Scott Moncrieff's translated title of Proust's epic novel "A La Recherche du Temps Perdu"
It could be perfectly rendered as "In Search of Lost Time" but he went with "Remembrance of Things Past"
It's from Shakespeare Sonnet 30. Artful!
It could be perfectly rendered as "In Search of Lost Time" but he went with "Remembrance of Things Past"
It's from Shakespeare Sonnet 30. Artful!
Wilson also strays from the Greek, but not artfully. It's awful. She opens like so:
“Tell me about a complicated man.”
She just can’t help insulting Odysseus… in the first line. It won’t be the first time!
“Tell me about a complicated man.”
She just can’t help insulting Odysseus… in the first line. It won’t be the first time!
The first adjective is polytropon, a declension of πολύτροπος. Poly = many and Tropos = turns. The word is modifying ἄνδρα (man)
Fagles: “the man of twists and turns”
Lattimore: “the man of many ways”
Lombardo: “the cunning hero, the wanderer”
Wilson: “a complicated man”
🤦♂️
Fagles: “the man of twists and turns”
Lattimore: “the man of many ways”
Lombardo: “the cunning hero, the wanderer”
Wilson: “a complicated man”
🤦♂️
Wilson LAUGHS as she explains to the NY Times exactly what πολύτροπος means (turning many ways)
And then she just translates it as "a complicated man” anyway. She doesn’t care about the truth.
And then she just translates it as "a complicated man” anyway. She doesn’t care about the truth.
The last line is the other problem. The word ἁμόθεν is very tricky. Nobody knows definitively what it means, and it appears just once in the text, so I’ll give her some slack.
But “tell the old story for our modern times. / Find the beginning” is atrocious
Find the beginning?
But “tell the old story for our modern times. / Find the beginning” is atrocious
Find the beginning?
It’s almost like she’s announcing in the first few lines — after insulting Odysseus and calling him “complicated” instead of praising him — that she’s going to modernize the whole poem.
To suck the ancient life out of it because she rejects the ancient manly virtues.
To suck the ancient life out of it because she rejects the ancient manly virtues.
Where is the celebration of virtue and excellence?
Where is the ἀρετή and ἀνδρεία?
Wilson answers that, telling Vox that “there’s an idea that Homer has to sound heroic and ancient.”
Homer is heroic and ancient OH MY GOD how could you say that
Where is the ἀρετή and ἀνδρεία?
Wilson answers that, telling Vox that “there’s an idea that Homer has to sound heroic and ancient.”
Homer is heroic and ancient OH MY GOD how could you say that
Now we move to the beginning of her Iliad.
It is not as bad as her Odyssey. But still the life - the pomp and circumstance - have been stripped from it.
We only have bits and pieces so far, and I don’t think she’s going to send me an advance copy
It is not as bad as her Odyssey. But still the life - the pomp and circumstance - have been stripped from it.
We only have bits and pieces so far, and I don’t think she’s going to send me an advance copy
Though Wilson was the first woman to translate the Odyssey, Caroline Alexander beat her to butchering — er… I mean translating — the Iliad in 2015
Wilson’s saving grace may be that Alexander’s translation of the opening was much, much worse.
Just a word salad
Wilson’s saving grace may be that Alexander’s translation of the opening was much, much worse.
Just a word salad
Here’s Lombardo, who accomplished what Alexander failed to: make the first line readable.
It has rhythm and mood — in the language in which it will be recited: ENGLISH.
It has rhythm and mood — in the language in which it will be recited: ENGLISH.
Here’s another snippet:
Wilson turns “King who devours his people” to “Cannibal king, you eat your people up”
You have got to be kidding me
Wilson turns “King who devours his people” to “Cannibal king, you eat your people up”
You have got to be kidding me
This is the first of MULTIPLE threads analyzing one of the great literary crimes in history, a crime that's only getting started.
Woke librarians are going to be purging the old translations and bringing in the Wilson ones.
I have much more to say. Follow me to keep up.
Woke librarians are going to be purging the old translations and bringing in the Wilson ones.
I have much more to say. Follow me to keep up.
Part 2 is now live. If you can stomach it, I have videos of Wilson "performing" her translation of the Odyssey.
Compared with Lombardo's epic performances
Compared with Lombardo's epic performances
That didn't take long hahaha
I will continue posting right here on @X and fight back against the impending corporate onslaught via NYT and other propaganda organs promoting her translation
I will continue posting right here on @X and fight back against the impending corporate onslaught via NYT and other propaganda organs promoting her translation
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