PositiveThe New York Review of BooksIn looking for classical influence, Bate does not restrict himself to direct knowledge...What matters is the classical grounding a contemporary viewer (or reader) might have brought to the plays ... Bate picks his way easily through the lumber room of Elizabethan literature ... on one point, at least, Bate’s exposition runs afoul of facts.
Homer, Trans. by Emily Wilson
PositiveThe New York Times Book Review\"The words are short, mostly monosyllables. Almost none have French or Latin roots. None is independently striking; their force comes from their juxtaposition with one another — pat pat pat, like raindrops on a metal roof … The general plainness of the language makes longer or unusual words stand out. Wilson doesn’t shy from colloquialisms: ‘fighting solo,’ ‘pep talk,’ ‘on day eighteen.’ And there are some daring choices … To read a translation is like looking at a photo of a sculpture: It shows the thing, but not from every angle. Like every translator, Wilson brings out some features more clearly than others. But altogether it’s as good an Odyssey as one could hope for.\
