<p>Why Translate Homer Again? Daniel Mendelsohn on his new Odyssey</p><br><p>This conversation explore’s Daniel Mendelsohn’s new translation of The Odyssey. Mendelsohn reflects on why this endlessly retranslated text still invites fresh interpretation, describing Odysseus as a “proto-author” whose storytelling shapes reality itself.</p><br><p>The discussion delves into the craft of translation; balancing precision with poetic vitality, preserving the strangeness of Homeric Greek while remaining readable, and making deliberate choices about line length, diction, and even spelling.&nbsp;</p><br><p>Mendelsohn also highlights the influence of teaching and lifelong engagement with the text, emphasising close reading and the role of students in deepening understanding.</p><br><p>Beyond technique, the conversation explores why <em>The Odyssey</em> endures. its themes of homecoming, identity, storytelling, and time continue to resonate across generations, making it both an ancient epic and a strikingly modern work.</p><br><p>Buy The Odyssey: <a href="https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/the-odyssey-51" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/the-odyssey-51</a></p><br><p>Memoirist, critic, translator, and frequent contributor of essays to&nbsp;<em>The New Yorker</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>The New York Review of Books</em>, where he is Editor-at-Large,&nbsp;Daniel Mendelsohn&nbsp;is the author of ten books, including the international bestsellers&nbsp;<em>The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million</em>, winner of the National Jewish Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and&nbsp;<em>An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic</em>, an NPR and Kirkus Best Book of the Year<em>.</em>&nbsp;His other honors include the Prix Médicis in France and the Premio Malaparte, Italy’s highest honor for foreign writers. In 2022 he was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Republic of France. He is currently the Charles Ranlett Flint Professor of Humanities at Bard College.</p><br><p>Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company.</p><br><p>Listen to Alex Freiman’s latest EP, In The Beginning: https://open.spotify.com/album/5iZYPMCUnG7xiCtsFCBlVa?si=h5x3FK1URq6SwH9Kb_SO3w</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>