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Los Angeles Times·4 min read·medium

'Odyssey' translator Emily Wilson rips apart Nolan's film adaptation

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Emily St. Martin
'Odyssey' translator Emily Wilson rips apart Nolan's film adaptation
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Classicist Emily Wilson has published a critical review of Christopher Nolan's film adaptation of 'The Odyssey'. Wilson, whose translation inspired the film, criticized the director for manipulating the source material to serve a moralistic narrative.

Why it matters

Highlights the tension between academic interpretation of classical literature and commercial cinematic adaptation.

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Emily Wilson, whose translation of Homer’s "The Odyssey" published in 2017 served as inspiration to Christopher Nolan when crafting his blockbuster adaptation of the nearly 2,800-year-old poem, has some thoughts on the film. In a biting missive for the London Review of Books, the British American classicist dissected Nolan's work with a scalpel so sharp that he may need to borrow some of Matt Damon's armor to read it all the way through. Last fall, the acclaimed director quoted Wilson's translation when telling Empire magazine why he was drawn to the story. "I think it’s the Emily Wilson translation that begins, ‘Tell me about a complicated man,’” he said. “The genius of the character, the cleverness, the inventiveness of him, that was a huge part of what interested me. He’s not just a soldier.

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