“Tell me about a complicated man.”
This is the controversial line that begins Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey.
The controversy lies in the choice of the word “complicated” as a stand in for the original Greek word “polytropos,” directly translating to something along the lines of “of many turns” or “turning in many ways”. In translating a word that can be interpreted in a myriad of ways to the more digestible, understandable “complicated,” Wilson sacrifices the complexity of the original Greek in exchange for more direct, modern language.
It is this version that Christopher Nolan chose as his inspiration for his epic film, The Odyssey. And interestingly, “complicated” and “controversial” float around not just Wilson’s translation, but Nolan’s film as well. The difference is, Wilson had 600 pages to explore the storytelling and character depth in ways beyond language. Nolan had three hours.
Now, don’t get me wrong, The Odyssey is a brilliant film in its own right. It is a Nolan film, after all, and while it never reaches the heights of Nolan’s best like Oppenheimer or The Dark Knight, it is still probably one of the best movies of the year so far. The reason I, and so many others, have such complicated feelings about it is because of a love and protectiveness surrounding the masterpiece that is Homer’s The Odyssey.
