Emily Wilson, who created a modern, well-received translation of The Odyssey, in her review of Christopher Nolan’s movie adaptation of the same, at the London Review of Books:
Christopher Nolan’s $250 million action movie version of Homer’s ancient Greek poem is an entertaining way to hide from the high temperatures for a few hours. Nolan’s trademark jumps and twists in the narrative structure are relatively easy to follow, and appropriate for The Odyssey, a narrative of tales nested in tales. My teenagers had a good time. Unlike some of Nolan’s other films, The Odyssey is not boring, thanks to the source material, which is impossible to mess up entirely. It’s a family-friendly audiovisual spectacle, like an elaborate Fourth of July fireworks display – and with about the same level of narrative and emotional depth.
OK, so she didn’t like it. 😉
Not only did she not like it, but she’s got about 4,000 words or so to tell us about all the ways that it’s not good. Reading the review, it was clear what a deep expert she is on the topic—if it weren’t already clear that you’d have to be to have written a translation in the first place—and she uses that expertise to expose every place where Nolan’s interpretation is a shallow one. I really enjoyed the movie, and for a few minutes, this review made me embarrassed to have liked it. Still, I did enjoy it. I think that spectacle and grandiosity were entertaining in this case, which made it more than worth it.
Wilson’s ultimate conclusion resonated with me: I purchased her translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey a while ago, and they’d gone unread since landing on my bookshelf, despite my best intentions. Seeing Nolan’s movie inspired me to pick up The Iliad afterward, and I suppose that’s a pretty good outcome.
(Also: What a beautiful page that is!)
Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man
As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Christopher Nolan has read at least the first line of my…