Emily Wilson, “Translating the Odyssey: How and Why”

April 11, 2019 - 4:00pm to 5:30pm

Event Summary

Lecture by Emily Wilson, University of Pennsylvania, Professor of Classical Studies, Translator of Homer’s Odyssey


What specific challenges face re-translators of ancient, ultra-canonical, Graeco-Roman texts?  How are these challenges different or similar to those of other literary translators?  Why translate the Odyssey into English yet again, when there have already been almost seventy translations into our language?  Prof. Wilson will discuss her working process and goals with this project, from questions of verse form and meter, pacing, style, word choice to narrative perspective, focalization and point of view.  She will discuss her vision of this complex, magical, moving and absorbing text about identity, hospitality and the meanings of home.

Location and Address

Room 540 William Pitt Union

3959 Fifth Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15213