You're listening to an AirWave Media Podcast.

He was famously a man of many ways, whether we interpret these as abilities or norms,

designs or deceptions, reasons or character tropes.

Yet despite such resources, he was also famously stuck,

making a 10-year Odyssey of his attempt to return home.

From a 10-year war, what keeps the man of master plans from homecoming and domestic bliss?

In the first of a three-part discussion of Homer's classic, we try to figure out what Odysseus really

wants and whether the Lord of Lies can master the trick of entrusting his mind to others.

This is Wes Allone, and you're listening to Subtext.

Today, we are discussing the Odyssey and the first 12 books, and we're doing the Emily Wilson

translation. We've actually discussed this translation on my other podcast, The Partial

Exam in Life. We had her on to discuss it, which was interesting. When I started reading this

translation, I'm used to Fitzgerald, which is a lot of license taken with that translation,

and I'd even memorize a little bit of that as a kid, and then I'd memorize some of the Greek as well,

although looking at the Greek this time, if I get a low bout and there's English in one

side and there's Greek on the other, I can make some things out, but it's such difficult Greek to

try to translate. When I first encountered her translation, because it's so different,

and it's different because it's much simpler syntactically than most translations,

and I was a little bit weirded out by that in the beginning, but then I found the translation to be

so readable that it actually increases the enjoyment of reading it a lot. It's much easier to read

and say if it's Gerald or many of these other translations, and you see the difference where

these other translations are. They're often a little bit archaic, maybe a bit ornate,

...