Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea

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
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 to those 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 translation, Wilson has produced a passionately personal - and at 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
Praise for Emily Wilson: 'Wilson translates as though translation is a moral choice - you owe fidelity not to the author, nor to the protagonist, but to the truth behind the words and the times. She scrapes away at old encrusted layers, until she exposes what lies beneath * Financial Times *
A masterpiece of translation -- Rowan Williams
[Wilson] opens new a new understanding of western literature's foundational text -- 'The 25 best books of the 21st century so far' * Observer *
Wilson's version of this nearly three millennia-old poem is so important ... combines intellectual authority with addictive readability * Daily Telegraph *
Beautiful, fluent, memorable * New Statesman *
A magisterial translation * Mail on Sunday *