Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania and translator of
The Odyssey. From the transcript of her interview with NPR's Lauren Frayer:
FRAYER: Let's go to the text. In case our listeners didn't do well in their high school tests or simply don't remember, the plot of "The Odyssey" is actually right there in the first stanza. Here's what I read in high school. It's the Robert Fagles translation. (Reading) Sing to me of the man, muse, the man of twists and turns, driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy.
And, Emily, I wonder if in contrast you could read the first lines of your version there.
WILSON: Sure. So this is my version. "Book One - The Boy And The Goddess." (Reading) Tell me about a complicated man. Muse, tell me how he wandered and was lost when he had wrecked the holy town of Troy and where he went and who he met, the pain he suffered in the storms at sea and how he worked to save his life and bring his men back home.
FRAYER: You're a much better dramatist than I am.
(LAUGHTER)
WILSON: I ham it up.
FRAYER: You read it better. This is plain, contemporary language. This is not intimidating for the layperson. Can you explain how you translated those opening lines of "The Odyssey?"
WILSON: So - I mean, I spent many, many, many days and hours and weeks rewriting and rewriting and rewriting. I didn't sort of instantly have...[read on]
--Marshal Zeringue
Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania and translator of The Odyssey. From the transcript of her interview with NPR's Lauren Frayer: