Emily Rose Caroline Wilson (born 1971) is a British
classicist
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
and the Professor of Classical Studies at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...
.Emily R. Wilson University of Pennsylvania. In 2017 she became the first woman to publish a translation of
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the '' Iliad'' and the '' Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of ...
's ''
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...
'' into English.
Early life and education
Wilson "comes from a long line of academics", including both her parents, A. N. Wilson and
Katherine Duncan-Jones
Katherine Dorothea Duncan-Jones, (13 May 1941 – 16 October 2022) was an English literature and Shakespeare scholar. She was a Fellow of New Hall, Cambridge (1965–1966) and then Somerville College, Oxford (1966–2001). She was also Professo ...
, her uncle, and her maternal grandparents, including Elsie Duncan-Jones. Her sister is the food writer
Bee Wilson
Beatrice Dorothy "Bee" Wilson (born 7 March 1974) is a British food writer, journalist and the author of seven books on food-related subjects as well as a campaigner for food education through the charity TastEd. She writes the 'Table Talk' colu ...
. Wilson's parents divorced shortly before she went to college.
Wilson was "shy but accomplished" in school. A graduate of
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...
, in 1994 (B.A. in literae humaniores, classical literature, and philosophy), she undertook her
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.
in
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
1500–1660 at
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 1 ...
(1996), and her Ph.D. (2001) in classical and comparative literature at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
. Her thesis was entitled ''Why Do I Overlive?: Greek, Latin and English Tragic Survival''.
Career
Wilson has authored five books. The first, ''Mocked With Death'' (2005), grew out of her dissertation and examines mortality in the tragic tradition: "our constant awareness of all that we will lose, are losing, have lost." The work received the Charles Bernheimer Prize of the American Comparative Literature Association in 2003. In 2006, she was named a Fellow of the
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome.
The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.
History
In 1893, a group of American architects ...
in Renaissance & Early Modern scholarship (
Rome Prize
The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Prizes have been awarded annually since 1921, with a hiatus ...
). Her next book, ''The Death of Socrates'' (2007), examines
Socrates
Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...
' execution. Wilson later reflected that she was interested in the ways and methods that Socrates would educate people, but also Socrates' death as an image: "What does it mean to live with so much integrity that you can be absolutely yourself at every moment, even when you've just poisoned yourself?"
Wilson's next works primarily focused on Rome's tragic playwright Seneca. In 2010, she translated Seneca's tragedies, with an introduction and notes, in ''Six Tragedies of Seneca''. In 2014 she published ''The Greatest Empire: A Life of Seneca''. She later noted that Seneca is an interesting subject because "he's so precise in articulating what it means to have a very, very clear vision of the good life and to be completely unable to follow through on living the good life." Wilson commented on the challenges of translating Seneca's ornate rhetorical style, saying that Senecan bombast in contemporary English risks sounding "too silly to be impressive. It has to go very close to sounding silly, but without quite getting there."
Wilson is a book reviewer for ''
The Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'', the ''
London Review of Books
The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews.
History
The ''London Review ...
'', and ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
''. She is also the classics editor for ''The Norton Anthology of World Literature'' and ''The Norton Anthology of Western Literature''.
In January 2020, Wilson joined the
Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...
Lee Child
James Dover Grant (born 29 October 1954), primarily known by his pen name Lee Child, is a British author who writes thriller novels, and is best known for his '' Jack Reacher'' novel series. The books follow the adventures of a former American ...
Lemn Sissay
Lemn Sissay FRSL (born 21 May 1967) is a British author and broadcaster. Sissay was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, has been chancellor of the University of Manchester since 2015, and joined the Foundling Museum's board of trus ...
.
''Odyssey'' translation
Wilson is perhaps best known for her critically acclaimed translation of ''The Odyssey'' (2017), becoming the first woman to publish a translation of the work into English. Following a lengthy introduction, she provides a translation of Homer's work in iambic pentameter. Wilson's ''Odyssey'' was named by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' as one of its 100 notable books of 2018 and it was shortlisted for the 2018 National Translation Award. In 2019, Wilson was the recipient of a
MacArthur Fellowship
The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...
for her work bringing classical literature to new audiences.
Beginning, "Tell me about a complicated man", Wilson writes with some creative and unusual phrases (such as "journeyways of fish"), although much of her verse translation uses "plain, contemporary language"., attending to both Homer's "fleetness" and "rhythm and musicality". Following many other Homeric scholars, she has argued that the hierarchical societies depicted in the Homeric poems are not viewed uncritically by the narrator, and that the poems include many voices and many distinct points of view. In one noteworthy choice, enslaved characters, described as "dmoiai" or "dmoioi" in the Greek, are often referred to as "slaves" in Wilson's versions, instead of "maids" or "servants"; Wilson has expressed surprise that so many modern North American translations obscure the social structures, noting "how much work seems to go into making slavery invisible."
Wilson has noted that being a woman did not predetermine her critical work as a scholar, reader or translator, and has expressed discomfort with the media reception of her work in terms of gender, since it tends to obscure her primary goals (such as the use of regular meter and attention to sound), and risks erasing the work of other female Homerists and female translators. Wilson has emphasized that other female translators of Homer, such as Anne Dacier and Rosa Onesti, made very different interpretative choices from hers.
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the reti ...
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
Modern Library
The Modern Library is an American book publishing imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Modern Library became an ...
/
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Ger ...
, 2016. ''Helen'', ''Bacchae'', ''The Trojan Women">Trojan Women'' and ''Electra (Euripides play)">Electra'' in this volume">The Bacchae">''Bacchae'', ''The Trojan Women">Trojan Women'' and ''Electra (Euripides play)">Electra'' in this volumebr>''The Odyssey (Homer)'' W. W. Norton & Company, 2017. . ''Oedipus Tyrannos (Sophocles)'' W. W. Norton & Company, 2021. .
*''The Iliad (Homer)'', W. W. Norton & Company, 2023.
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
''Bryn Mawr Classical Review'' (''BMCR'') is an open access journal founded in 1990. It publishes reviews of current scholarly work in the field of classical studies including classical archaeology."The Origins of Foreigners" review of ''Rethinking the Other in Antiquity'' By Erich S. Gruen, ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
Translation and Literature
''Translation and Literature'' is an academic journal of English literature in its foreign relations. The journal was established in 1992 with Stuart Gillespie ( University of Glasgow) as editor-in-chief.
Overview
Articles and notes have i ...
The Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', December 2015.
*"A Doggish Translation" (review of ''The Poems of
Hesiod
Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...
: Theogony, Works and Days, and The Shield of Herakles'', translated from the Greek by Barry B. Powell,
University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facult ...
, 2017, 184 pp.), ''
The New York Review of Books
''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
'', vol. LXV, no. 1 (18 January 2018), pp. 34–36.
*"Ah, how miserable!" (review of three separate translations of '' The Oresteia'' by
Aeschylus
Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Gree ...
London Review of Books
The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews.
History
The ''London Review ...
'', vol. 42, no. 19 (8 October 2020), pp. 9–12, 14.
Critical studies and reviews of Wilson's work
* Carolyne Larrington "The hemlock and the chatterbox" ''The Times Literary Supplement'', 17 October 2007.
*Marc Mastrangelo ''Bryn Mawr Classical Review'', Dickinson College, 2009.
*Christopher Trinacty ''Bryn Mawr Classical Review'', Oberlin College, 2010.
*
Tim Whitmarsh
Timothy John Guy Whitmarsh, (born 23 January 1970) is a British classicist and the second A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge. He is best known for his work on the Greek literary culture of the Roman Empire, ...