Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - 6:30 PM | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration required
The first great adventure story in the Western canon, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty, and power; about marriage and family; about travelers, hospitality, and the yearning for home.
In this fresh, authoritative version—the work’s first English translation by a woman—this stirring tale of shipwrecks, monsters, and magic comes alive in an entirely new way. Written in iambic pentameter verse and a vivid, contemporary idiom, this engrossing translation matches the number of lines in the Greek original, thus striding at Homer’s sprightly pace and singing with a voice that echoes Homer’s music.
Its characters are unforgettable, from the cunning goddess Athena, whose interventions guide and protect the hero, to the awkward teenage son, Telemachus, who struggles to achieve adulthood and find his father; from the cautious, clever, and miserable Penelope, who somehow keeps clamoring suitors at bay during her husband’s long absence, to the “complicated” hero himself, a man of many disguises, many tricks, and many moods, who emerges in this translation as a more fully rounded human being than ever before. This is an Odyssey that will be treasured by a new generation of scholars, students, and general readers alike.
Emily Wilson grew up in Oxford, UK, and studied Classics at Balliol College, and English Literature at Corpus Christi College. Her PhD. is from Yale in Classics and Comparative Literature. She is currently a Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She has written books on tragedy and “overliving,” the long afterlife of the death of Socrates, and a life of Seneca. She has also done several verse translations of classical verse drama and epic, including Seneca’s tragedies, four plays of Euripides, and Homer’s Odyssey.
To register, use the form below. With registration questions, call the Events Office at 212.288.6900 x230.
Price
$15.00