Odyssey

Paperback, 478 pages

Published March 1, 2000 by Hackett Publishing Company, Inc..

ISBN:
978-0-87220-484-3
Copied ISBN!
5 stars (3 reviews)

21 editions

reviewed The Odyssey by Emily Wilson

Clear and accessible

No rating

After reading several translations of The Odyssey (Butcher, Murray, Rieu, Fagles, Lattimore etc…) over the years, I was curious to experience a more contemporary treatment, hence picking up this one.

Wilson’s translation is clear and easy to comprehend. I found it a much faster read than previous translations, although admittedly I was poring over those ones for a dissertation. (I forget which one(s) came in rhyming couplets, but ohboy!)  If you’ve read my other reviews, you’ll know I tend to prefer prose that isn’t too ornate, but I wouldn’t have minded a touch more richness here. While I generally liked the straightforward language, sometimes the wily Odysseus seemed to express himself more honestly and self-critically than I’d expect. Additionally, I didn’t often feel inclined to linger over particular passages.

As a bonus, I did notice descriptive details that I hadn’t previously paid much attention to (such as the storeroom Penelope …

Vivid and accessible

5 stars

An approachable version of The Odyssey in a plain and modern English. Wilson matches Homer line-for-line, but compresses each line to a 5-beat iambic pentameter. Her language is chiseled, sometimes to a fault. But it adds up to a surprisingly quick, enjoyable, and morally engaging read.

Homer's most vivid images really shine in this rendering: "He saw them fallen, all of them, so many; / lying in blood and dust, like fish hauled up / out of the dark-gray sea in fine-mesh nets; / tipped out upon the curving beach's sand, / they gasp for water from the salty sea. / The sun shines down and takes their life away. / So lay the suitors, heaped across each other."

The text avoids justifying or masking immoral or questionable acts and practices. The word "slave" is used frequently, rather than euphemisms. Sometimes the translation strikes a judgmental note, like when the …

Odyssey

4 stars

1) "Thus Telemachus. And Pallas Athena Touched the suitors' minds with hysteria. They couldn't stop laughing, and as they laughed It seemed to them that their jaws were not theirs, And the meat that they ate was dabbled with blood. Tears filled their eyes, and their hearts raced. Then the seer Theoclymenus spoke among them: 'Wretches, what wicked thing is this that you suffer? You are shrouded in night from top to toe, Lamentation flares, your cheeks melt with tears, And the walls of the house are spattered with blood. The porch and the court are crowded with ghosts Streaming down to the undergloom. The sun is gone From heaven, and an evil mist spreads over the land.'"

2) "Odysseus picked up The arrow from the table and laid it upon The bridge of the bow, and, still in his chair, Drew the bowstring and the notched arrow back. He …