The Odyssey (2026) by Melinda Sue Gordon—Universal Pictures
Christopher Nolan's adaptation of The Odyssey has received intense backlash since it was announced. The complaints range from the accents used by actors in the trailer, to the color of the armor, to the absence of Greek actors, to the (mis)representation of Helen of Troy by casting Lupita Nyong'o as her. But special attention has gone to Nolan's admission that he took inspiration from Emily Wilson's translation.
The issue is largely political since Wilson identifies as a feminist, her beliefs influenced her translation choices, and media outlets have celebrated her work, partly, because she is female. But is her possible influence on Nolan's film something audiences should be concerned about?
Yes.
Critics have noted that Wilson's translation erases nuance. John Byron Kuhner's mostly positive review mentioned that Wilson translated the same word - huperphialos - as "insolent" or "arrogant" for Penelope's boorish suitors but as "high-minded" for a drunken, cannibalistic cyclops. Richard Whitaker's review made a similar observation about how she inculpated Odysseus in the deaths of all his crewmen, even when the original didn't.
Wilson's tendency to defame the protagonist is present throughout text. Her introduction says the poem "never gives us an explicit answer" (59) for why Odysseus leaves Calypso's island, but rejects love as a possible explanation: "Presumably, Odysseus is inspired by a deep loyalty to his wife, son, father, and the place of his birth, and moved by a deep and constant love for those he left behind. Butwe must avoid projecting the anachronistic ideas of chivalric romantic love onto Odysseus, who is not a medieval knight performing valiant deeds for the sake of a beautiful lady" (60). It's an odd assertion, considering how Book 1. 11 - 15 explicitly references how Odysseus misses his wife as shown in various English translations.
Alexander Pope (1725):
"Ulysses, sole of all the victor train/An exile from his dear paternal coast/Deplored his absent queen and empire lost."
Samuel Butler (1900): "So now all who escaped death in battle or by shipwreck had got safely home except Ulysses, and he, though he was longing to return to his wife and country..."
Anthony Verity (2016): "one man alone, longing to return to his home and his wife..."
Wilson's translation, notably, omits these lines: "All the other Greeks who had survived the brutal sack of Troy sailed safely home to their own wives—except this man alone."
Instead, she suggests that Odysseus left for materialistic and status-oriented reasons: "If Odysseus had stayed with Calypso, he would have been forever subservient to a being more powerful than himself. He would have lost forever the possibility of being king of Ithaca, owner of the richest and most dominant household on his island—an estate wealthy in pigs, sheep, goats, fruit, grain, wine, and slaves, with an old father, a young son, and a desirable, much-courted, and valuable wife all devoted to him, and all increasing his value in the eyes of his neighbors" (60).
If Nolan took inspiration from these uncharitable, simplified interpretations of Odysseus, then he's further undermining the accuracy of his adaptation and justifying the backlash he's receiving.
