Finally! I've been waiting for this interview for TWO YEARS now. You are really on a roll in 2024. This channel is going to E-X-P-L-O-D-E!! 50k subs. by EOY! 😎🚀
I’ve been waiting to do this one, too!!!! So unbelievably thrilled to have finally found time in both our calendars for Dr Wilson and I to sit down 😭🫶🏼
@@MoAnInc This looks very interesting. The most immersive Homeric experience I've given myself is listening to the audible Lattimore Iliad and reading it at the same time. If Dr. Wilson''s is also on Audible I'll definitely be downloading it.
1. Mrs Wilson seems to be very very clever person and highly educated. 2. Therefore she lets modern people connect with these texts. 3. She helped me learn about Homer (in just 50 minutes) more than all my teachers combined! (I'm Greek) 4. She's totally: right, we cintemporary Greeks understand only bits and pieces from Homer, probably less. 5. Looking forward to read her translation.
As someone who has been working with languages for years as a foreign language teacher I have to say Emily Wilson made so many interesting and valid points about translation that we often stumble upon even when trying to learn, understand and use a modern foreign language (and we have native speakers of the language that we can actually ask). I fiddled with translation back in college and found out that I didn't have enough patience and perseverance for it, so I admire all translators and especially those that have to deal with very playful, archaic or poetic language. Anyway, I just bought the translation, so I can't wait.
This interview was so engaging and fantastic! I had some negative preconcieved notions about Wilson’s translations that I realized were embarrassingly flawed when I stopped reading online opinions and actually read her translations of the Odyssey and Iliad. Her explanations in this interview of the focuses and goals of her translations helped contextualize some decisions/approaches I still didn’t understand after reading. One thing I noticed in the interview is that sometimes Dr Wilson was working through a pretty interesting line of thought in her responses that were just begging for a follow up question, but you would change tack pretty abruptly to a different line of questioning. You are so knowledgeable and affable, so as a viewer it leaves me wanting more of a dialogue (although I know things like time restrictions or nerves could get in the way!) Love the channel, so much great content!
Thank you so much for watching - and UGH I KNOW!!! Unfortunately with this interview, Dr Wilson and I were VERY tight on time considering she so kindly slotted me into her very busy day of lecturing. On top of that, there were actually two follow up questions to her incredibly interesting answers that also had to get cut due to some spicy academia debates and not wanting to reignite anything from that corner of the scholarly classics world in this video 😮💨 Basically, I know EXACTLY what you mean, but I appreciate the way you so delicately pointed this out in your comment because IT BOTHERS ME, TOO!!! But alas, I’m still so proud of this interview and so thrilled that you found it engaging and fantastic 🥹🥹🥹 Thank you for your support 🫶🏼
I really enjoyed this interview. It is always interesting to hear the choices and approach a translator makes, especially with respect to the homeric poems. Thanks for doing this interview !
Very much enjoyed the Odyssey translation, and was struck by the agility communicating the text in a elegantly accessible manner. I will look forward to reading this Iliad.
50:00 The best answer to that dilemma is that there is a major difference between knowing something and experiencing something. Someone can tell you how beautiful Cancoon is and you would have that information as knowledge but you wouldn't have experienced that beauty for yourself.
Achilles was Zeus's great grandson on his father's side, making him 5/8ths divine. Similarly, Aeneas had a little boost (1/128th) from Zeus on his father's side, making him 65/128ths divine. In case anyone is keeping score.
Loved this. Wonder if there is a reading of the original which of course contains the compelling and propulsive meter and rhythm of the drama. Even if one doesn't understand the individual Homeric words but may have a sense of the scene unfolding (because you would have prepared us for it!), this hearing in the original might have its own excitement. Thanks.
Another wonderful interview, Erica. Keep up the exceptional job. I'm currently going through Anthony Verity's literal translations doing some prep for an upcoming interview project. ATM.
Loved this interview. Thank you. BTW have you read Ransom by Australian writer David Malouf? It retells books 22-24 of The Iliad. Malouf has written books about Australian history (as well as a great book about Ovid’s exile) but Ransom is IMHO his best work.
Back when I was translating, I was often looking, not for the "best" and "most accurate" translation of a term, but for the least misleading translation.
In book fourteen when Odysseus is chewing out Agamemnon for wanting to leave i cant help but giggle, the frustration Odysseus is feeling is so fun and understanding like 'Now is not the time for this BS Agamemnon' 😄😄
As someone who minored in Classic Studies (Greek), Medea is one of my favorite characters. She is a very strong woman. My other favorite is Clytomenestra. The Greeks had some serious issues with strong women.
Hello friend I believe in the gods and goddesses of Olympus, today, As it was before, because of the faith and wisdom they transmitted to the world and gave globe a natural view.
I bought Dr. Wilson‘s book last year & really enjoyed it. It’s a pleasure to listen to her teachings. Now I see my guy Irving Finkle in the playlist. 🫶
I still honour and worship and adore Olympus and the oracles I dream that and Badly wish Would that I were in the Kingdom of gods and goddesses endeavour endeavour when they were glorified by the world. Amen.
What she means by that, is that nobody ever spoke Homeric Greek "in everyday life". It was a special, "artificial" language, patched together from two or three actual Greek dialects, and was only ever used in poetry, or occasionally in literature. The advantage is that if you need a certain number of syllables to fit into a particular line, it helps if you can choose from various different dialects instead of being confined to only one. It would have sounded kind of weird and unnatural even to ancient Greeks, but we have to remember that they had known these stories by heart from early childhood, so they could easily follow along, even if this wasn't the same way they talked to their friends. Sorry for this long reply, but I hope it's helpful!
At least she is honest.The Greek speaking word had developed to perfection a language that they spoke and all of a sudden they started writing magnificent extra extensive almost impossible to replicate today pieces of poetry.That greek speaking world that starts with the Mycenaeans(1750-1050 BC)right? BTW need to update on their writing abilities cause they seem to have a writing system that dates back to 7260-5250 BC on the artifact called the dispilo tablet. So the achaeans are the Greeks.The rest of the peoples that fought against the achaeans are not Greeks even thought they speak the Greek language ,worship the same gods,share the same culture,share common ancestry according to the text right?So Achilles who is fighting with the "Greeks" but is a Minian descendant of the house of Hellin is not a Greek right? Poseidon is literally the god of disaster and to be precise Poseidon is the aspect of the divine that deals in destruction(to humans) of natural causes.Are we for real? Φίλη=the female person you kiss(expressing love and appreciation).Imagine all the possible people you kiss in your life,that's what this notion describes.Not wives not mothers not daughter not female friends but all of them.It is a different notion that doesnt exist in other languages.Now go back in history and be one of them and imagine the female person they would kiss in their day life. Why do Achilles and Patroklus who love each other have to have imaginary sex?
For Patroclus being Achilles "head", I saw this as a comment on Instagram and as a Greek/Greek speaker I'd like to paraphrase and copy parts of it here: Equating people to body parts in Greek culture and nearby cultures has the meaning of “he is very precious to me (as precious as this body part is to me)”. If we are eager to consider the modern Anglophone perspective, why not the Greek historical one, especially with the great continuity of Greek language and customs. According to Greek culture, Achilles most likely says something akin to "(Patroclus) is the apple of my eye".
The works of the great poet, Homer, are filled with words that not only survive in Albanian but continue to be used. From Homer, you can get not only words but also phrases that possess all the signs of a typical Albanian expression. If someone were to interpret Homer from the Albanian language perspective, much light would be shed on the works of that famous poet. Between Homeric and Albanian sentences, there is a striking resemblance in expression, phraseology, and sentence structure. A study of this nature would help interpret Homer, since the Albanian language is older than that of Greece (Science Magazine 2023), much can be learned about the influence of this [Albanian] on Homeric and later Greek. Title: Unconquerable Albania Author : Christ Anton Lepon Publisher: Chicago, Albanian Liberation Committee, 1944 Zeus was a Pelasgian, not a Helen. After Illyad, the language of Gods was Gheg - North Albanian Dialect. (Herodotus) Illyad and Odyssey were oral poems of Pelasgians.
The Homeric language is not a greek one. It's pregreek,one of the dialects spoken in Illyricum.The only dialect survived and still spoken is the albanian language in two dialects,geg ( North Albania and Kosova) and tosk (South Albania,Toskenia,Epirus). There is an astounding simillarity of homeric with the geg dialect of albanian.Gjon Shllaku,the cleric who translated Iliad in albanian,declaired:"I didn't translate it.I only adopted it from albanian to albanian. I'll try to demonstrate it through any verse of Iliad written in latin letters. The first verse: Homeric:Minin aidhe thea Peliadheo Achileos. Albanian:Menin I a dhe Perendeshe Peliadh Akilit. English:The wrath you gave Goddes to Peliadhe Achiles. Menin is the acusative declination of the noun MENIA (nominative declination) meaning wrath in albanian. AIDHE=A I DHE=I A DHE means TO HIM YOU GAVE. DHE is the simple past,second person,singular (you gave). As to the word THEA,it's not used in albanian but we can find its etymology through albanian.It derives from the albanian verb THEM meaning say, order, sentence...(present tense, first person,singular).And we have the greek god of justice,THEMI. THOT is the third person, singular of this verb(he,she,it says) and we have THOT the egyptian god. THA is the past tense,third person.singular (he said) and we have the etruscan god THAGETA=THA GJETA meaning said-found who taught technologies to etruscans. THE is the the past tense,second person,singular (you said) and we have THEA,goddes. E THANA is the verbal name ( the saying) from which derives ATHENA ,ATHINA. The second verse: Homeric:Ulomenin I miri akaios alge e thike. Albanian:Ule menin I miri ake I nalt I thoike. English:Put down your wrath oh good achean highness they said to him. ULOMENIN is a compound word made by ULO and MENIN. UL in albanian means sit down,put down,slow down,relant... ULE is the imperative conjugation of this verb so ULOMENIN=ULE MENIN means put down your wrath,relent. I MIRI means THE GOOD.We see that the adjectives in homeric have an article(i,masculine) just like in albanian. E THIKE In albanian I THOIKE is the simple past tense of the verb THEM meaning they said to him. It's clear that Homeric and Albanian share a lot of vocabulary and the same grammar. ALGE in albanian is AJKE meaning creme of the milk. Metaforically it is used as the "creme of the acheans",the elite. The correct rithm of the poem will be taken if you read it in albanian. Thank you for the opportunity to express my opinion.
Finally! I've been waiting for this interview for TWO YEARS now. You are really on a roll in 2024. This channel is going to E-X-P-L-O-D-E!! 50k subs. by EOY! 😎🚀
I’ve been waiting to do this one, too!!!! So unbelievably thrilled to have finally found time in both our calendars for Dr Wilson and I to sit down 😭🫶🏼
I'm halfway through reading this to my 12 year old at bedtime. Its amazing, so accessible and wonderful to read out loud ❤
Oh my god I love this comment so, so much 🥹
@@MoAnIncthe kid is a massive nerd, I'm so proud 😂
@@MoAnInc This looks very interesting. The most immersive Homeric experience I've given myself is listening to the audible Lattimore Iliad and reading it at the same time. If Dr. Wilson''s is also on Audible I'll definitely be downloading it.
1. Mrs Wilson seems to be very very clever person and highly educated. 2. Therefore she lets modern people connect with these texts. 3. She helped me learn about Homer (in just 50 minutes) more than all my teachers combined! (I'm Greek) 4. She's totally: right, we cintemporary Greeks understand only bits and pieces from Homer, probably less. 5. Looking forward to read her translation.
As someone who has been working with languages for years as a foreign language teacher I have to say Emily Wilson made so many interesting and valid points about translation that we often stumble upon even when trying to learn, understand and use a modern foreign language (and we have native speakers of the language that we can actually ask). I fiddled with translation back in college and found out that I didn't have enough patience and perseverance for it, so I admire all translators and especially those that have to deal with very playful, archaic or poetic language. Anyway, I just bought the translation, so I can't wait.
This interview was so engaging and fantastic! I had some negative preconcieved notions about Wilson’s translations that I realized were embarrassingly flawed when I stopped reading online opinions and actually read her translations of the Odyssey and Iliad. Her explanations in this interview of the focuses and goals of her translations helped contextualize some decisions/approaches I still didn’t understand after reading. One thing I noticed in the interview is that sometimes Dr Wilson was working through a pretty interesting line of thought in her responses that were just begging for a follow up question, but you would change tack pretty abruptly to a different line of questioning. You are so knowledgeable and affable, so as a viewer it leaves me wanting more of a dialogue (although I know things like time restrictions or nerves could get in the way!) Love the channel, so much great content!
Thank you so much for watching - and UGH I KNOW!!! Unfortunately with this interview, Dr Wilson and I were VERY tight on time considering she so kindly slotted me into her very busy day of lecturing. On top of that, there were actually two follow up questions to her incredibly interesting answers that also had to get cut due to some spicy academia debates and not wanting to reignite anything from that corner of the scholarly classics world in this video 😮💨 Basically, I know EXACTLY what you mean, but I appreciate the way you so delicately pointed this out in your comment because IT BOTHERS ME, TOO!!! But alas, I’m still so proud of this interview and so thrilled that you found it engaging and fantastic 🥹🥹🥹 Thank you for your support 🫶🏼
Dr Emily Wilson is just the best educator out there. Love her work and her talks
🏆🏆🏆
I really enjoyed this interview. It is always interesting to hear the choices and approach a translator makes, especially with respect to the homeric poems. Thanks for doing this interview !
Thanks for tuning in!!
Loved this SO much! One of your best interviews yet! Although any of your content concerning the Iliad is always my favorite 😊
Thank you so, so much 🥰
Yet another awesome guest! I’ve been recommending Dr Wilson to people for months!!
😇
What an incredible conversation! Loved hearing from someone who is able to translate from these ancient languages! 🙏
🫶🏼✨
Very much enjoyed the Odyssey translation, and was struck by the agility communicating the text in a elegantly accessible manner. I will look forward to reading this Iliad.
It’s utterly brilliant!!
Wow! what a delightful and charming interview - and informative as well! You did a superb job of questioning and exploring such a deep topic.
Thank you so much 🙏🤩✨
This makes me want to get on and read The Iliad EVEN MORE!! I got it for my birthday last week eeeaak😆
Do it!!!!! 🤑
How pleasing. I just recently bought both her Iliad and Odyssey.
They’re both magnificent!
A brilliant and informative interview. Such a privilege to be able to “ meet” an academic of this stature. Thank-you
Thanks for watching ✨
What a fantastically enjoyable interview! Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! ❤️
Just started the audiobook. Highly recommend it
☀️
this is a very interesting interview, thank you very much.
Thanks for watching 🤓
Just discovered your channel, absolute gem. Thanks for your sharing your work
Thank you so much! 😇
50:00 The best answer to that dilemma is that there is a major difference between knowing something and experiencing something. Someone can tell you how beautiful Cancoon is and you would have that information as knowledge but you wouldn't have experienced that beauty for yourself.
its fascinating hearing all of the thought that goes into having to translate into english that then also brings something new to the text
🤓
Achilles was Zeus's great grandson on his father's side, making him 5/8ths divine. Similarly, Aeneas had a little boost (1/128th) from Zeus on his father's side, making him 65/128ths divine. In case anyone is keeping score.
Who wasn’t as great grandchild of Zeus at this point
What a wonderful interview! Thank you both. I’m going to go listen to the audio version again. 🥰
Thank you SO MUCH for watching, Caroline! ❤️
This was SO brilliant! I'm even more excited to dive into this translation now! 😍
Thanks for watching AND ALWAYS SUPPORTING, Lorna 🥹🫶🏼✨ xx
Erica, thanks for getting into the weeds about the translation and approaching the language. So fascinating.
Thanks for watching!!!! 😇
This was really cool. I'm glad I found your channel!
🥰🫶🏼
I just found your channel today and I love it! New subscriber!
Thank you for joining the community!!! 🫶🏼✨
Loved this. Wonder if there is a reading of the original which of course contains the compelling and propulsive meter and rhythm of the drama. Even if one doesn't understand the individual Homeric words but may have a sense of the scene unfolding (because you would have prepared us for it!), this hearing in the original might have its own excitement. Thanks.
Another wonderful interview, Erica. Keep up the exceptional job.
I'm currently going through Anthony Verity's literal translations doing some prep for an upcoming interview project. ATM.
Thank you so much!
Excellent, thank you. Emily Wilson is amazing
Truly a phenomenal scholar!
I had been waiting for this interview!!🎉
χάριν μεγάλην σοι ἔχω
😇🥳
I liked the Iliad by Michael Reck, in metre. I wonder what Emily Wilson has to say about it, and how it compares to her version.
Emily wilson is great just finished her odyssey
Absolutely fantastic!
Absolutely tremendous! Thank you.
Thanks for tuning in!!!
Great work!
Thanks! 😇
An absolutely wonderful video.
Thank you 😇
i love her pronunciation of Achilles on her guide 😉💯
Loved this interview. Thank you. BTW have you read Ransom by Australian writer David Malouf? It retells books 22-24 of The Iliad. Malouf has written books about Australian history (as well as a great book about Ovid’s exile) but Ransom is IMHO his best work.
Thank you so much for tuning in!
Back when I was translating, I was often looking, not for the "best" and "most accurate" translation of a term, but for the least misleading translation.
It's official: 18,000+ subscribers. 20,000 coming in June! 🚀 🌞
🥹
In book fourteen when Odysseus is chewing out Agamemnon for wanting to leave i cant help but giggle, the frustration Odysseus is feeling is so fun and understanding like 'Now is not the time for this BS Agamemnon' 😄😄
As someone who minored in Classic Studies (Greek), Medea is one of my favorite characters. She is a very strong woman. My other favorite is Clytomenestra. The Greeks had some serious issues with strong women.
BAP actually talked about this lady and he's right... 😂
Hello friend
I believe in the gods and goddesses of Olympus, today,
As it was before, because of the faith and wisdom they transmitted to the world and gave globe a natural view.
I bought Dr. Wilson‘s book last year & really enjoyed it. It’s a pleasure to listen to her teachings. Now I see my guy Irving Finkle in the playlist. 🫶
Thanks for watching my interview with Dr Wilson AND thank you for spotting Dr Finkel!!! I hope you enjoy that interview as well 🫶🏼
What a wondeful video
Thank uuuuu
She put the translation into the same meter and same pacing as the original whereas most translations don’t? Is there something else I’m missing?
Not many can make a blue yeti mic sound good. But you did!
💁🏻♀️
I still honour and worship and adore Olympus and the oracles
I dream that and
Badly wish
Would that I were in the Kingdom of gods and goddesses endeavour endeavour when they were glorified by the world.
Amen.
Good book - proper men - proper women - high quality violence and adventure.
Highly impressive
Thanks :))
I don't understand. No one actually spoke this language? Weren't these epics sung by the bards?
What she means by that, is that nobody ever spoke Homeric Greek "in everyday life". It was a special, "artificial" language, patched together from two or three actual Greek dialects, and was only ever used in poetry, or occasionally in literature. The advantage is that if you need a certain number of syllables to fit into a particular line, it helps if you can choose from various different dialects instead of being confined to only one. It would have sounded kind of weird and unnatural even to ancient Greeks, but we have to remember that they had known these stories by heart from early childhood, so they could easily follow along, even if this wasn't the same way they talked to their friends. Sorry for this long reply, but I hope it's helpful!
The acheans came from IKEA
Wilson is right to claim that modern Greek is very different from ancient Greek in syntax and vowel sounds.
This interview is not only informative, but well conducted.
(And the interviwer is easy on the eye, which doesn't hurt, either).
❤
:)
At least she is honest.The Greek speaking word had developed to perfection a language that they spoke and all of a sudden they started writing magnificent extra extensive almost impossible to replicate today pieces of poetry.That greek speaking world that starts with the Mycenaeans(1750-1050 BC)right?
BTW need to update on their writing abilities cause they seem to have a writing system that dates back to 7260-5250 BC on the artifact called the dispilo tablet.
So the achaeans are the Greeks.The rest of the peoples that fought against the achaeans are not Greeks even thought they speak the Greek language ,worship the same gods,share the same culture,share common ancestry according to the text right?So Achilles who is fighting with the "Greeks" but is a Minian descendant of the house of Hellin is not a Greek right?
Poseidon is literally the god of disaster and to be precise Poseidon is the aspect of the divine that deals in destruction(to humans) of natural causes.Are we for real?
Φίλη=the female person you kiss(expressing love and appreciation).Imagine all the possible people you kiss in your life,that's what this notion describes.Not wives not mothers not daughter not female friends but all of them.It is a different notion that doesnt exist in other languages.Now go back in history and be one of them and imagine the female person they would kiss in their day life.
Why do Achilles and Patroklus who love each other have to have imaginary sex?
Well, hello there!
For Patroclus being Achilles "head", I saw this as a comment on Instagram and as a Greek/Greek speaker I'd like to paraphrase and copy parts of it here: Equating people to body parts in Greek culture and nearby cultures has the meaning of “he is very precious to me (as precious as this body part is to me)”. If we are eager to consider the modern Anglophone perspective, why not the Greek historical one, especially with the great continuity of Greek language and customs. According to Greek culture, Achilles most likely says something akin to "(Patroclus) is the apple of my eye".
The works of the great poet, Homer, are filled with words that not only survive in Albanian but continue to be used. From Homer, you can get not only words but also phrases that possess all the signs of a typical Albanian expression. If someone were to interpret Homer from the Albanian language perspective, much light would be shed on the works of that famous poet. Between Homeric and Albanian sentences, there is a striking resemblance in expression, phraseology, and sentence structure. A study of this nature would help interpret Homer, since the Albanian language is older than that of Greece (Science Magazine 2023), much can be learned about the influence of this [Albanian] on Homeric and later Greek.
Title: Unconquerable Albania
Author : Christ Anton Lepon
Publisher: Chicago, Albanian Liberation Committee, 1944
Zeus was a Pelasgian, not a Helen. After Illyad, the language of Gods was Gheg - North Albanian Dialect. (Herodotus) Illyad and Odyssey were oral poems of Pelasgians.
Lol 😂😂 are you on drugs or what?
💊💊💊💉💉💉💉
Translations matter. If you're only going to read the Iliad or the Odyssey once, read Emily Wilson's translations. She is tight with the Muse.
Translating the Achaeans as the Greeks is very misleading.
The Homeric language is not a greek one. It's pregreek,one of the dialects spoken in Illyricum.The only dialect survived and still spoken is the albanian language in two dialects,geg ( North Albania and Kosova) and tosk (South Albania,Toskenia,Epirus).
There is an astounding simillarity of homeric with the geg dialect of albanian.Gjon Shllaku,the cleric who translated Iliad in albanian,declaired:"I didn't translate it.I only adopted it from albanian to albanian.
I'll try to demonstrate it through any verse of Iliad written in latin letters.
The first verse:
Homeric:Minin aidhe thea Peliadheo Achileos.
Albanian:Menin I a dhe Perendeshe Peliadh Akilit.
English:The wrath you gave Goddes to Peliadhe Achiles.
Menin is the acusative declination of the noun MENIA (nominative declination) meaning wrath in albanian.
AIDHE=A I DHE=I A DHE means TO HIM YOU GAVE.
DHE is the simple past,second person,singular (you gave).
As to the word THEA,it's not used in albanian but we can find its etymology through albanian.It derives from the albanian verb THEM meaning say, order, sentence...(present tense, first person,singular).And we have the greek god of justice,THEMI.
THOT is the third person, singular of this verb(he,she,it says) and we have THOT the egyptian god.
THA is the past tense,third person.singular (he said) and we have the etruscan god THAGETA=THA GJETA meaning said-found who taught technologies to etruscans.
THE is the the past tense,second person,singular (you said) and we have THEA,goddes.
E THANA is the verbal name ( the saying) from which derives ATHENA ,ATHINA.
The second verse:
Homeric:Ulomenin I miri akaios alge e thike.
Albanian:Ule menin I miri ake I nalt I thoike.
English:Put down your wrath oh good achean highness they said to him.
ULOMENIN is a compound word made by ULO and MENIN.
UL in albanian means sit down,put down,slow down,relant...
ULE is the imperative conjugation of this verb so ULOMENIN=ULE MENIN means put down your wrath,relent.
I MIRI means THE GOOD.We see that the adjectives in homeric have an article(i,masculine) just like in albanian.
E THIKE In albanian I THOIKE is the simple past tense of the verb THEM meaning they said to him.
It's clear that Homeric and Albanian share a lot of vocabulary and the same grammar.
ALGE in albanian is AJKE meaning creme of the milk. Metaforically it is used as the "creme of the acheans",the elite.
The correct rithm of the poem will be taken if you read it in albanian.
Thank you for the opportunity to express my opinion.
Just keep in mind that Seneka is closer to us than Homer was to Sneka.
No