Emily Wilson Quotes

“My friend Patroclus, whom I loved, is dead.
I loved him more than any other comrade.
I loved him like my head, my life, myself.
I lost him, killed him.
[. . .]
. . .my Patroclus, son of Menoetius.”
― Homer, The Iliad

“Tell me about a complicated man,
Muse, tell me how he wandered and was lost...

...And where he went, and who he met, the pain
He suffered on the sea, and how he worked
To bring his men back home."
- Emily Wilson Translation of Homer's Odyssey”
― Homer, The Odyssey

“I've never read the feminist version of The Odyssey, but I imagine it goes something like this:

"Odysseus was a man. A complicated man. (Did I mention he was a prick and a fucker with a revolting rapist penis too? Well, he was and he did have one.)

Odysseus was at the apex of an oppressive Greek patriarchy, perhaps the OG patriarchy. He had "men" under his command. I suppose you're wondering what these "men" were like? (Hint: see above.)

(N.B. If I have accidentally written anything remotely complimentary or positive about men, please contact my publisher and I will retract it in future editions.)

Being toxically masculine, Odysseus abandoned his wife Penelope and their son and disappeared for twenty years for island hook-ups with nymphs and to commit ableist, homicidal thuggery against one-eyed, cave-dwelling primitives. Meanwhile, Penelope, the real hero of this epic — afflicted by her internalised misogyny — defended the oppressive marriage through the menial, degrading task of weaving, while resisting the 108 potential rapists who had moved into his home and wanted her sexually non-stop.”
― Stewart Stafford