COLLOQUIUM: Emily Wilson, UPENN, “Translating the Odyssey: AGAIN?”

I will discuss my work in producing a new verse translation with introduction of the Odyssey, forthcoming from Norton (November 2017).  The obvious question about any new translation of an already-much-translated and hyper-canonical text is, ‘Why do we need another one?’  My talk will focus on the ways that my version of the poem is different from other available English translations, in both formal and interpretative ways.  I will include discussion of translation theory, and of the methodological and practical challenges involved in recreating this archaic text for twenty-first century readers.