# Why Translate Homer Again? Daniel Mendelsohn on his new Odyssey Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-shakespeare-and-company-interview-174467/why-translate-homer-again-daniel-mendelsohn-on-his-new-odyssey Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-shakespeare-and-company-interview-174467/why-translate-homer-again-daniel-mendelsohn-on-his-new-odyssey.md Podcast: [The Shakespeare and Company Interview](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-shakespeare-and-company-interview-174467) Published: 2026-04-02T15:10:07+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/sandco/episodes/why-translate-homer-again-daniel-mendelsohn-on-his-new-odyss Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/62065b88f850df0012335061/e/69ce86cff44b357ce9220bef/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-shakespeare-and-company-interview-174467/episodes/why-translate-homer-again-daniel-mendelsohn-on-his-new-odyssey Duration seconds: 3571 ## Resource Why Translate Homer Again? Daniel Mendelsohn on his new Odyssey This conversation explore’s Daniel Mendelsohn’s new translation of The Odyssey. Mendelsohn reflects on why this endlessly retranslated text still invites fresh interpretation, describing Odysseus as a “proto-author” whose storytelling shapes reality itself. The discussion delves into the craft of translation; balancing precision with poetic vitality, preserving the strangeness of Homeric Greek while remaining readable, and making deliberate choices about line length, diction, and even spelling.  Mendelsohn also highlights the influence of teaching and lifelong engagement with the text, emphasising close reading and the role of students in deepening understanding. Beyond technique, the conversation explores why The Odyssey endures. its themes of homecoming, identity, storytelling, and time continue to resonate across generations, making it both an ancient epic and a strikingly modern work. Buy The Odyssey: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/the-odyssey-51 Memoirist, critic, translator, and frequent contributor of essays to  The New Yorker  and  The New York Review of Books , where he is Editor-at-Large, Daniel Mendelsohn is the author of ten books, including the international bestsellers  The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million , winner of the National Jewish Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and  An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic , an NPR and Kirkus Best Book of the Year .  His other honors include the Prix Médicis in France and the Premio Malaparte, Italy’s highest honor for foreign writers. In 2022 he was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Republic of France. He is currently the Charles Ranlett Fli… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-shakespeare-and-company-interview-174467/episodes/why-translate-homer-again-daniel-mendelsohn-on-his-new-odyssey/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-shakespeare-and-company-interview-174467/why-translate-homer-again-daniel-mendelsohn-on-his-new-odyssey.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.