Retranslating the Classics with Emily Wilson - 2025 Humanities Institute Distinguished Lecture

The acclaimed Homer’s epic poems translator Emily Wilson visits Humanities Institute as the 2025 Distinguished Lecturer.  In her talk, Dr. Wilson will discuss the dynamic challenges of literary translation in general, and of retranslation of ancient canonical texts in particular.  Dr. Emily Wilson will discuss her own work as a re-translator, with examples from her recent translation of The Iliad. She will emphasize the importance of form, sound, pacing and emotional effect as well as semantic sense, and explain why we need new re-translations of ancient texts.

Emily Wilson is a Professor in the Department of Classical Studies and holds the College for Women Class of 1963 Chair in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania. Her books include Mocked with Death: Tragic overliving from Sophocles to Milton (2004), The Death of Socrates: Hero, villain, chatterbox, saint (2007) and The Greatest Empire: A life of Seneca (2014), as well as an edited volume of essays on ancient tragedy. Her verse translations include Six Tragedies of Seneca, four translations of plays by Euripides in the Modern Library The Greek Plays, and Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannos (Norton). She is the Classics editor of the revised Norton Anthology of World Literature (latest revision out 2024). Her 2017 translation of the Odyssey, in iambic pentameter, met with widespread acclaim, as did her translation of the Iliad, published in fall 2023.  She had a Rome Prize in 2006, was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2019, and won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2020.  

PLEASE NOTE THE EVENT TIMES

4:00 - 5:00 p.m., Pre-event Reception, foyer of 3rd floor of Old Main

5:00 - 6:00 p.m., Distinguished Lecture in Carson Ballroom, 3rd floor of Old Main

Distinguished Lecture (5-6 p.m.) will be livestreamed on ASU Live. Virtual audience can watch it at ASU Livestream.