Emily Wilson, The Odyssey Translator, Slams Christopher Nolan's Adaptation

Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey is stomping over box office records for Universal. However, the person whose translation of the Homeric poem has often been cited by Nolan, has come out in severe vocal antipathy.

Emily Wilson is the first female translator of Homer’s The Odyssey, and her opening sentence to the latter (“Tell me about a complicated man”) was previously cited by Nolan as what inspired him. Her review of the film for the London Review of Books tore the film to shreds. Wilson argued, "I don’t think it’s a complicated movie. And I don’t think it’s even about a complicated man. I think it’s a quite simple action hero movie about an action hero who feels bad about being an action hero."

Emily Wilson's Criticism Of Nolan's The Odyssey

She stated the film strips away too many of the tensions that lend an edge to the original. Homer’s Odysseus is not simply brave or noble; he is a “complicated man”—a survivor, strategist, liar, and manipulator whose intelligence is inextricable from his flaws: “The whole point is that Odysseus is someone you both admire and distrust.” Wilson said Nolan makes him one-dimensional.

Wilson has argued that Homer’s female characters, particularly Penelope, are far more complex than traditional adaptations often allow. The original poem, she says, is not merely a story of a heroic man returning to a waiting wife; it is also about “a woman who has been managing a household, a kingdom, and a crisis for 20 years.” She believes Nolan’s version reduces Penelope’s role.

The most vicious paragraph that went viral follows: “Nolan’s Odyssey lacks many of the elements that make the poem great. It has nothing convincing to say about time, memory, history, war, or about the relationship between one warrior’s glorious return and the lives of his family, adversaries, comrades, friends and neighbors. It lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. Its narrative structure is gimmicky. The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible.”

Wilson didn't hold back, "Wilson would be ashamed to have written any part of this script." Earlier, she had admitted though, "The release of ‘The Odyssey’ is still an event to celebrate. This epic is bringing audiences back to cinemas … translations of ‘Odyssey,’ including mine, are flying off the shelves … [and] perhaps the film will persuade a few college administrators not to cut their literature, language and history departments.”