The first woman to translate the Odyssey into English speaks to LIFO.gr

Dimitris Maronitis believed that every translation effort is always characterised by the temporal (and therefore historical) moment at which it takes place.

Thus, both the original and the transcription create a dialectical relationship between them, each carrying its historical load. Together, however, they release “a potential latent in both languages,” as he noted. The essential aim is to create a text in which the original can be recognized as a work with a past and a future.

But what happens when we are not only talking about a spatial and temporal transfer of the original, but the transcription is in a completely different language? I would love to have Dimitris Maronitis alive (for other reasons, of course) so that I could ask him how he sees the new translation of the Odyssey, and by a woman.

Emily Wilson has broken a barrier. She became the first woman to translate the Odyssey into English – 60 other translation attempts (from the 16th century to the present day) have preceded her, all by men. But it seems that a karmic connection binds the British professor of Hellenistic studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

I love the sheer breadth and scale of it. As well as the interest in the poem in different cultures, lifestyles and social groups. Finally, I love the huge range in stresses, the humour, the clever charm and the imaginative richness of it.

As she says, from the age of eight she connected with the Homeric epic and it took decades and countless decades of study and study to get to the point where she could take on the original. She has recently done so and her effort has already received the attention of all the major media in Europe and the USA.

The recent articles in the Guardian and the New York Times do not fall into the category of indirect advertising or glib criticism, but they do highlight two issues: the fact that a woman entered the world of men and made it and that the Homeric epics are still inspiring and timeless. So, today. Emily Wilson spoke to LIFO.gr about both her translation of the Odyssey and the lineage connections we all have with Odysseus.

– Is it a Odyssey to translate the Odyssey?

It took me five years of hard work, although the reward was great.

– It’s as if you too have found your Ithaca.

In English, “Odyssey” means a long, hard journey, and in my case it was one. In a sense, I felt that the process of returning to the homeland required strategic thinking, patience and cunning. And all this did not happen all at once, but through a series of recognitions and encounters. I am still learning to encounter and recognize Homer’s poem.

– Of the 12,110 lines in the Odyssey, is there one that sticks with you?

-I don’t know how to answer that question. Of course, there are too many in my mind.

– What kind of person is Odysseus in your opinion? Is he a sly hustler? A deceiver? Or something else?

His main characteristic is that he is a complex person. We call him a “polytheist”, a “polymath” and a “polytrope”. This shows that we are not dealing with just one person. He is always multifaceted and as if he is not limited to one “mind”. In fact, Odysseus is able to think and exist in different dimensions. More so than the average warrior of Ancient Greece.

– Why did you choose to translate the Odyssey and not the Iliad?

I was asked to do so by my publisher (Norton). I love both poems and hope to translate the Iliad at some point. However, for some specific reasons I love the Odyssey more. For example, it has a lot of female characters. I love its immense breadth and scale. As well as the poem’s interest in different cultures, lifestyles and social groups. Finally, I love the huge range in accents, the humor, the clever charm and the imaginative richness of it.

– From the 16th ^{century to the present day, the Odyssey has been translated 60 times into English. What new elements does yours bring?}

What I tried to do was this: the translated text should have the same number of verses as the original. Something which creates a fast rhythm. Also, it’s in iambic pentameter (at the moment most modern translations have not followed this meter). I tried to translate the poem into English that one can read and speak. My goal was for the end result to sound like a poem in verse, but also as English that anyone can speak. On the interpretive level, I think I paid more attention, compared to previous translators, to how polyphonic the work is and how many different perspectives there are. I tried to get inside the head of each of the characters to understand how they think.

 

– So you didn’t just deal with Ulysses.

No, I was as much concerned with Odysseus as I was with his family members, slaves, victims and visitors to the palace.

 

– Why do you think we are still concerned with the Homeric epics?

It depends on who is “concerned”. I think the answer is different for each play. I would say that people, in general, like the origin stories. These two epic poems are older than the western canon. They are works that were directly influential in Greco-Roman times and through many variations and transformations – over the centuries – in modern literature and culture.

– Do you think the answer will be different for the two works? On the subject: for the Odyssey, what would the answer be?

I would say that the Odyssey in particular asks questions about gender hierarchy (and what is wrong with it), questions about what a family is (and what alternatives there are to the heteronomous structure of the third member in a couple, something we see at the heart of the poem). Questions about gender fluidity (I love the way Athena changes). Questions about migrants, refugees and immigration (very important these days and central to the poem), but also about how we treat other people and what it means to belong.

– For us Greeks, there is an obvious relevance to Odysseus. He brings something from us, we bring something from him. I wonder how people who come from another race see him.

How one views the poem and what connotations one finds in it is not just about the main protagonist. I personally find many, although I have a very strange relationship with the main character. As a translator I come into contact not only with Odysseus – who, like any good translator, knows how to hide himself, change and tell stories – but also with Athena and with Helen, who can control memories and lies. Personally, in relation to my geographical identity, I understand very well the position of Odysseus and Helen. Both lived for many years in foreign countries and tried to put themselves in the position of the traveller and the immigrant.

– I understand what you are saying. Obviously anyone can find something in the Odyssey to remind them of who they are.

In terms of cultural identity, the issue of “foreignness” is very strong in the UK especially after Brexit. It is an act of profound hostility to be cut off from Europe and I wonder how one can compare it to the fact that Odysseus is quite unfriendly to suitors. In both the US and Europe I see a lot in common with the recent episodes of mass murder of civilians.

– It’s as if nothing has changed in our world.

All of us (individually and as a culture) are like Ancient Greece, we are facing a huge technological evolution. They wrote, we have the internet. The Odyssey is about a world that is changing frighteningly fast with people trying to adapt to new realities. The great theme of the poem is change, time and identity. Can we, I wonder, stay the same as time and places pass or when the world around us changes? And if we insist on staying the same, does that mean we destroy everyone else?

– When do you remember first thinking about translating the Odyssey?

Since I was 8 years old and was introduced to the story. I was playing Athena in a theatrical adaptation we did in school. However, I got into the process five years ago – that’s when I was asked to do it.

– I guess knowing Greek is not enough to translate the play “correctly”. Rather, one has to understand it in depth. Is that so?

In my view, translation is a deeply interpretive act. Of course you need to know English very well to translate the poem into English. However, you have to essentially think of the poem as two – the original and the one you have to translate into another language. And when I say to think about them I mean on many levels: linguistically, poetically, metrically, aesthetically, emotionally, stylistically, sonically, psychologically and many others.

– Were there any practical things you did during the translation?

I made countless sketches in my notebooks, which I kept revising. It took me a long time to stop doing that. I could revise my notes endlessly.

– Finally, are you satisfied with the result or do you still have doubts?

I will always have second thoughts. That’s part of the process. Every decision you make is the result of compromise. An attempt to approach something that is never entirely possible.

 

– I guess the purpose of this translation too is not only to be read by academics, but also by ordinary people. Isn’t it?

Yes, the goal is that it can be read by students, but also by people who don’t know Greek, but want to feel the joy of reading. That is why I tried to convey the poem as “clearly” as possible. I wanted the reading to evoke joy. I also want that joy to be difficult, rich and interesting. I want people to understand that regardless of their age, the poem is not exactly what they think it is. It’s not boring or predictable. It is directly relevant to things that matter to us.

– You are the first woman to translate the Odyssey into English. Why has no other woman done so until now? Literature, poetry – even epic poetry – belongs to everyone.

I am indeed the first woman to translate the play into English, and indeed, the poems belong to everyone. I would also say that all translations done by men, and I have had to study, are marked by some kind of racial blindness. Because I am a woman, it is much harder for me to do what you did before in the interview. To identify myself in relation to the protagonist. I have more distance from it and more questions. I think that distance allows me to read and translate the play in more and richer ways. This distance is quite helpful – especially when it comes to the male code of military honor, which is partially exploited in the poem.

 

– Are you planning to come to Greece to launch the book?

If you invite me, of course!

 

– Really, what do you think of modern Greece? We think we are trapped in the fact that we are descendants of the Ancient Greeks and everyone owes us.

She is not Greek, so it is difficult for me to answer. In high school I had a friend who was Greek and I have visited your country many times, but never stayed very long. In general, however, I think that what we call ancestors (and into this you put texts and history) is an issue that should always be under review. I translated the Odyssey in a new way, and I think Greeks, in general, can keep what they want from their past.

Strange as it may seem, the Odyssey even talks about the current situation in Greece. About the different economic realities between peoples, and between the sexes. About how we should treat the poor, the beggars and those who are not privileged. Also, what relations we should develop with foreigners, aliens and immigrants. The Odyssey shows us that Odysseus did not arrive home immediately. He is perceived by his intimates in a different way. He is seen differently by his dog, differently by his slave, his wife and everyone else. Our ancestors are like that. You can recognize them each time in a different way. You can read the Odyssey in the sense that the center of the world is not Greece and Ithaca, but that there are many houses, centers, and changes of course.