Brooklyn’s Reviews > The Odyssey > Status Update
Brooklyn
is on page 120 of 582
2002 translation by George Chapman: “Yet never durst he mix with her in bed, so much the anger of his wife he fled”
2018 translation by Emily Wilson: “He gave her status in the household, equal to his own wife, but never slept with her, avoiding bitter feelings in his marriage”
LIKE the focus of using the wife’s anger as the reason in the 2002 vs using his own bitter feelings in his marriage in the 2018!
— Jun 02, 2026 09:48PM
2018 translation by Emily Wilson: “He gave her status in the household, equal to his own wife, but never slept with her, avoiding bitter feelings in his marriage”
LIKE the focus of using the wife’s anger as the reason in the 2002 vs using his own bitter feelings in his marriage in the 2018!
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Brooklyn’s Previous Updates
Brooklyn
is on page 90 of 582
Reading highlights of the book before the movie comes out to help jog my memory and get me back into Classics🙌 Emily Wilson’s translator note brings up good points about how translated work of classics will always have influence of the modern aspects of language and that translator’s cultural biases. The section about gendered language in translation is super compelling, especially in regards to Penelope.
— Jun 02, 2026 09:34PM
