Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Classics scholar Emily Wilson\u2019s widely-acclaimed translation of Homer\u2019s The Odyssey was cited as a reference for Christoper Nolan in his recent film adaptation of the epic. It helped her book to sell over a million copies<\/a>. <\/p>\n Now she\u2019s written another talker: Wilson, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania<\/a> and the first woman to publish an English translation of The Odyssey, penned a review<\/a> of Nolan\u2019s film for London Review of Books this weekend, and her reaction was less than favorable. <\/p>\n Her main critique was that the adaptation lacked depth, stating: \u201cIt has nothing convincing to say about time, memory, history, war, or about the relationship between one warrior\u2019s glorious return and the lives of his family, adversaries, comrades, friends and neighbors.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIts narrative structure is gimmicky,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words.\u201d<\/p>\n With the essay being lengthy, she also took to Bluesky<\/a> to summarize her main points. <\/p>\n \u201cThis Odyssey is not a rich, satisfying Homeric banquet, but sometimes in the heat, an ice-cold Philly water ice is all you want \u2014 even it\u2019s mostly sugar and food coloring, and makes no nutritional sense,\u201d she wrote on the social media site. It\u2019s a line Wilson says summarizes her feelings but was cut from the essay.<\/p>\n She had particular criticisms over the film\u2019s female and non-white characters, finding them to be \u201cunderwritten.\u201d Wilson states, \u201cMost of the non-white actors \u2014 Zendaya, Lupita Nyong\u2019o, Himesh Patel, Corey Antonio Hawkins, Travis Scott \u2014 play versions of the Black best friend, whose only role in the drama is to provide aid to the white protagonist.\u201d<\/p>\n A uniquely progressive aspect of Wilson\u2019s translation of The Odyssey is her devotion to fighting back against gendered biases from previous translations. For example, she replaced the terms \u201csluts\u201d and \u201cwhores\u201d used to describe the Ithaca servant women with \u201cslaves\u201d and \u201chouse girls.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson continues, \u201cCharlize Theron\u2019s Calypso looks gorgeous, but she is never angry, never funny, not skilled in rhetoric, and never consumed by lust for her scraggly mortal victim. She\u2019s an unpaid therapist, soothing the soul of the bedraggled, PTSD-ridden Odysseus with drugs, and graciously listening to his disjointed tale of woe.\u201d<\/p>\n Online discourse has naturally erupted, with people both defending her literary merit and others (largely hard core Nolan fans) attacking her review.<\/p>\n One Nolan fan account<\/a> expressed their disappointment, theorizing that she was simply \u201cfrustrated that she didn\u2019t get the adaptation she had imagined.\u201d A reply<\/a>, one of hundreds, comes to her defense, stating \u201c[Nolan]\u2019s scripts are usually garbage this one is no different.\u201d<\/p>\n