Days after a classicist who translated Homer\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d in 2017 eviscerated the Christopher Nolan film based on the poem, Joyce Carol Oates has entered the debate. <\/p>\n
She\u2019s Team Nolan.<\/p>\n
The National Book Award-winning author is known for her (sometimes controversial) hot takes on social media<\/a>, and on Wednesday, she stepped up to the plate in opposition of translator Emily Wilson\u2019s brutal takedown<\/a> of Nolan\u2019s big-screen adaptation of \u201cThe Odyssey.\u201d Nolan had previously said Wilson\u2019s translation inspired him in making the film. But Wilson wrote that she would be ashamed to have written any part of the script.<\/p>\n \u201cHer tone of dismissal & haughty superiority strike a sour note,\u201d Oates said of Wilson\u2019s review in a post on X<\/a>. \u201cRather than disagreeing with interpretations of Homer in a collegial manner, this person, who has benefited enormously from Nolan\u2019s film, speaks in the crude language of MAGA folks attacking someone with ideas that differ from hers.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson\u2019s biting missive, published in the London Review of Books<\/a> this week, went so viral that it reportedly<\/a> crashed the outlet\u2019s website for a few hours Monday. The British American classicist\u2019s take on the film was especially notable because, last fall, Nolan quoted Wilson\u2019s translation when telling Empire magazine why he was drawn to the story. \u201cI think it\u2019s the Emily Wilson translation that begins, \u2018Tell me about a complicated man,\u2019\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Wilson\u2019s version of \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d subsequently spiked in sales. A representative for Audible told The Times on Wednesday that, year over year, purchases of Wilson\u2019s \u201cOdyssey\u201d translation were up by more than 600% across Audible\u2019s U.S., U.K. and Canadian marketplaces. Daily global title sales rose nearly sixfold during the week the movie premiered. And in the nine days following wide release, daily global sales averaged around 20 times more than the rate before the premiere, showing sustained demand for Wilson\u2019s translation.<\/p>\n Oates, who penned the Pulitzer Prize-nominated \u201cBlonde,\u201d said that, within the world of translators, Wilson\u2019s review \u201cseems all the more surprising since all translations are, presumably, subjective & not equivalent to the original text.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne 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,\u201d Oates wrote. <\/p>\n