CROSSING THE WINE-DARK SEA

Enchanting, academic essays about translating the classics.

Balancing close readings of nuanced passages alongside celebrations of their modern translations, Wilson (classical studies/University of Pennsylvania; The Iliad, 2023, etc.) writes with the sparkling charisma of a favorite college professor and presents each deep dive with a finely tempered fusion of erudition and accessibility. “Language is never a neutral tool by which we represent the world: every word and phrase carries with it a tangle of cultural assumptions and connotations,” she writes and slyly incorporates contemporary touchstones into her analyses. In the essay “Slut-Shaming Helen of Troy,” Wilson explores misogynistic tropes and the Helen myth’s “focus on the proliferation of virtual, unreal images that suck people into obsessive desire and conflict.” Another essay probes the bawdier side of classics and connects the “lyrical flow” of Aristophanes to Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B. While discussing Edith Hamilton’s popular retelling of the Greek myths, Wilson moves quickly past Hamilton’s scholarly shortcomings and instead applauds her ability to “[fuse] a schtick about classics with something more nebulous and hard to achieve: a Personality.” Personality is where Wilson, too, finds great success. She not only imparts the wisdom of a well-read scholar but shows readers how easy it is to bask in these texts’ storied histories and revel in their slippery wordplay. She welcomes the unique visions of a swath of other translators and gracefully finds value in both their successes and misfires. The collection closes with a long essay about her own translations of Homer and the challenge of “shedding new light on a supposedly familiar original,” exemplified by her maligned use of the word “complicated” to describe Odysseus and his meandering adventures. “[J]ust as there are many ways to play a single score of music, many ways to paint the same landscape, and many ways to direct a play or deliver a speech,” Wilson reveals the multifaceted artistry of translation, rendered in an amalgam of both language and history.

A lively exploration of ancient literature.