The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson
New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2017 ISBN 9780393089059
Thanks to Christopher Nolan's film, The Odyssey is having a little time in the sunshine of notice. As I write this review, I've yet to see the film (although I've read/seen quite a few reviews!), but in preparation I thought I would read the poem for the first time since my early twenties (i.e. several decades ago).
I chose the Emily Wilson translation for a few reasons - it's current, it was of interest on the internet because it's the first translation by a woman and I wanted to see what the fuss was about and whether the sex of the translator made a difference (it doesn't really), but mostly because it was the copy closest to hand when I decided a re-read was on the cards.
On the whole, it is an excellent translation for the twenty-first century. Wilson has used iambic pentameter as her metre, but it's not a self-consciously poetry, she has used (mostly) a very slightly heightened language, but the story is very easily understood and very readable, and she has provided the reader with a good introduction to the poem and the milieu in which it was written, what it might mean both then and now, excellent notes, glossary, pronunciation guide and useful maps. It's a complete package.
Of the apparatus, it is the Translator's Note that is most interesting. It is an excellent essay on the difficulties not only of translating the poem and making it accessible to a modern audience, but also on the weight that earlier translations bring to bear on anyone who attempts it. It's well worth reading, and would serve as a good guide for readers of any translation of anything, especially poetry.
The poem is best-known for Odysseus's adventures fighting the Cyclops, hearing the Sirens, skirting Scylla and Charybdis, the Lotus Eaters etc., but in many ways those are minor bits of excitement in what is a much bigger story that Homer (Wilson's introduction speculates well on who Homer might have been) is trying to tell.
Whereas The Iliad is a story about war and glory, The Odyssey is much more a story of overcoming the difficulties life throws up at us, the choices we make (and the ones we don't) and the consequences of our actions. Like much of the greatest literature, within it's narrative The Odyssey gives the reader pause to think about their own life and reflect on how much all of our stories can be seen to be reflected in Odysseus's struggles. Everyone should have their own interpretation of The Odyssey, it seems to me.
Mostly, in my view, it's a book about coming home, and about not giving up on that ideal. Homer is too sophisticated to give us a happily ever after, but coming back to where you are known and loved and wanted is at the heart of the story. Fear of what it means to not be those things is also here - for much of the poem Odysseus, through his deceitfulness and trickery is trying to ascertain whether his home does indeed know him, love him and want him.
Wilson has her own views on this, and on other things, which don't necessarily gel with mine, but which like the poem itself are worth thinking about and responding to in a thoughtful way. One of the interesting things about The Odyssey is that there are so many powerful women portrayed in it, many of whom have a lot of control over Odysseus, which seems remarkable for something written thousands of years ago. I think the depiction of women in the poem speaks to age-old questions that, even in patriarchal warrior societies, still need to be reckoned with, and Wilson has thoughtful things to say about that, as well as on the depiction of slavery and the actions of the gods.
This is an excellent book in every way - a great translation well supported with supplementary material. If you have watched the film and want to go deeper, I can highly recommend this book.
Cheers for now, from
A View Over the Bell
