Recently, we reported about Emily Wilson, one of the renowned translators of Homer's poem Odyssey, criticising Christopher Nolan's recent cinematic adaptation, starring Matt Damon in the titular role. In her recent essay on London Review of Books, Wilson opined that The Odyssey lacks several elements that made Homer's poem 'great,' as well as that the film has a 'gimmicky' narrative structure and 'abysmal' writing. "I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script," shared Wilson about the film.
Days after her criticism, acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates, popular for We Were Mulvaneys and Blonde, defended Nolan's adaptation and called Wilson out for the way in which she criticised the film.
Referring to the criticism from the translator, Oates shared, "Her tone of dismissal and haughty superiority strike a sour note."
She added, "Rather than disagreeing with interpretations of Homer in a collegial manner, this person, who has benefited enormously from Nolan’s film, speaks in the crude language of MAGA folks attacking someone with ideas that differ from hers. within the world of translators this seems all the more surprising since all translations are, presumably, subjective & not equivalent to the original text. one would expect a translator, of all people, beholden to a text, in service to a text, to be just a wee bit more thoughtful & respectful of others who are acting in good faith just as (she would claim) she is," as quoted by Deadline.
Oates underscored that Nolan is entitled to adapt a poem such as Odyssey "through the prism of his own invention" and that Odysseus does not have to be as 'noble' to modern readers as in the poem. "I do not think that Nolan’s film will be considered a great classic," the author noted before expressing her surprise at the criticism for the filmmaker.
