A groundbreaking classicist is irreverently acting out The Odyssey on YouTube and it's great

You have never seen The Odyssey like this before.
(Image credit: YouTube/EmilyRC Wilson)

If you want someone to read aloud to you in quarantine, you have a lot of options. Actors, actresses, and royals alike have recorded themselves reading everything from picture books to Harry Potter for the entertainment of fans stuck in isolation. But perhaps you're looking for something a little more … epic?

Classicist Emily Wilson, who in 2017 became the first woman to publish a translation of Homer's Odyssey into English, is working on releasing 24 daily two-minute videos of herself reciting passages of her book. "Translation is always like acting," she explained on Twitter. "We inhabit other people's voices. I am Nobody."

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.