Crossing the Wine Dark-Sea
Journeys Through Ancient Literature
Format:Paperback
Publisher:W W Norton & Co Ltd
Publishing:1st Sep '26
£11.99
This title is due to be published on 1st September, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Drawing on twenty years of scholarship and translation experience, Emily Wilson—renowned translator of Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad—explores the difficult choices that translators must make, the pleasures of finding new solutions to old problems, and the inevitable frustrations of never fully capturing what is in the original work. Across chapters that range from the politics of Helen of Troy to the obscenities of Aristophanes, from Roman imitation of Greek models to contemporary debates over “foreignizing” and “domesticizing” translation styles, Wilson examines how modern norms of gender, sexuality, violence, humor, and power complicate our readings of ancient works, and how translation always risks denaturing what is unique and strange about the ancient world. Brilliant, erudite, and yet accessible to readers with no classics background, Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea is at once an introduction to the wonders of Greek and Roman literature, a manifesto for the value of translation in a rapidly changing world, and an invitation to encounter ancient cultures anew.
"Emily Wilson’s brilliant reconsiderations of the ancient world—through the figure of Helen of Troy, the remaking of the Iliad by Christopher Logue, the use of comedy to grapple with dark matters, even slavery, and much besides—makes this an enthralling and profoundly relevant book." -- Salman Rushdie
"I adored reading these joyful, illuminating, and engrossing journeys through ancient literature. Wilson’s interest is wide-ranging, moving with elegance and insight across genres and millennia. With wit, passion and clarity, she invites us into each of these fascinating subjects. The final essay especially is required reading for anyone interest in translation, drawing back the veil on how a brilliant scholar and writer approaches her work." -- Madeline Miller
"Vaulting from the ancient to the modern and back again, this collection is erudite, insightful and provocative. An unparalleled insight into the work of a classicist and translator at the height of their powers." -- Paul Cooper, author of Fall of Civilizations
"We’re incredibly lucky to have Emily Wilson writing about the art, politics and ethics of translation and retranslation. Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea is an impressive display of Wilson’s expertise, conviction and wit. Her impact within and without the world of literary translation has been huge." -- Jen Calleja, author of Fair: The Life-Art of Translation
"Emily Wilson unlocks the gates to ancient Greece and Rome: her deep understanding of translation is the key." -- Peter Stothard, author of Horace: Poet on a Volcano
"By turns witty, stylish, ethical and pugilistic, Wilson reveals herself to be as brilliant an essayist as she is a translator…This sparkling collection uses the concept of translation to explore the varieties of the modern West’s addictive relationship to the Greeks and Romans, from its arrant misreadings tot hose moments when the ancients appear as if in a mirror." -- Tim Whitmarsh, author of Battling the Gods
"In her discussion of the possibilities and pitfalls of translations, Wilson has produced a passionately personal—and a times polemic—celebration of language and the power of literature to speak across millennia." -- David Stuttard, author of A History of Ancient Greece in 50 Lives
ISBN: 9781324099406
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
288 pages