AP Literature students went on a field trip to a Literary Arts event featuring Emily Wilson, the first woman to translate The Odyssey.

Orchestrated by Mr. Springer, the event was hosted at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall by Literary Arts on April 16th, and was primarily open to all audiences not just students. Typically, such a wide variety of age in the audience may cause problems in understanding the content. Yet despite that potential problem, there weren’t any difficulties with interpreting the material.

“It was digestible and understandable for everyone,” senior Anne Lewis said. “It wasn’t super complicated and I felt like I understood what she was talking about the entire time, which I really appreciated.”

It also helped that there was a PowerPoint presentation alongside the topics being talked about, but that wasn’t what shined through the most.

“Even though we couldn’t understand what she was saying [In Greek],” senior Lilly Castogar said. “But with the way she said everything, you could get what she meant through emotion.”Emily

Wilson was consistently active with the presentation, which the audience seemed to appreciate. Not only because it was entertaining, but it also added more context to the subject at hand.

“She kept trying to preserve the integrity of the original,” senior Lily Hillstorm said. “I read The Odyssey a couple of years ago because my dad said this could be really good for you, and I didn’t understand a single part of it… And I’m reading Emily Wilson’s translation right now and immediately, so much different. I understand what’s happening.”

A consistent observation of this translation, as many people- including more prestigious people- agree with Hillstrom’s statement. In fact, Castogar noticed that in older translations they “said ‘whores,’ but she used ‘the women and their suitors.’”

Overall, the attendees- of all kinds- enjoyed not only the message, but also her personality. 

“It wasn’t like a lecture,” Hillstrom said. “It was more like a conversation about her work.”