{"podcast":{"title":"The Shakespeare and Company Interview","slug":"the-shakespeare-and-company-interview-174467","podcast_index_feed_id":174467,"rss_url":"https://access.acast.com/rss/62065b88f850df0012335061","website_url":"http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/62065b88f850df0012335061/1780994163859-33b7fda3-aca3-4e25-920d-f05eae64045b.jpeg","author":"Shakespeare and Company","episode_count":210,"summary":"Discover your next favourite book, or take a deep dive into the mind of an author you love, with The Shakespeare and Company Interview podcast. Now also the home of Editions: A Shakespeare and Company x Faber Production. Long-form interviews with internationally acclaimed authors, recorded from our bookshop in the heart of Paris. Hosted by S&Co Literary Director, Adam Biles. Discover all our upcoming events here . If you enjoy these conversations, you can order The Shakespeare and Company Book of Interviews here . Past guests include: Ottessa Moshfegh, Ian McEwan, Ali Smith, Hari Kunzru, Rachel Kushner, Katie Kitamura, Elif Shafak, Claire-Louiose Bennett, Leïla Simoni, Ian Dunt, David Runciman, Richard Powers, Eimear McBride, Armando Iannucci, Lauren Grodd, Lauren Elkin, Recebcca Solnit, John Berger, Hollie McNish, Michael Pedersen, Rob Doyle, Philippe Sands, George Saunders, Edouard Louis, Rachel Cusk, Preti Taneja, Alejandro Zambra, DBC Pierre, Meg Mason, Sandra Newman, David Simon, Joshua Cohen, Geoff Dyer, David Wallce-Wells, Emul Saint-John Mandel, Mohsin Hamid, Tess Gunty, A.M. Homes, John Higgs, Miriam Toews, Kamila Shamsie, Annie Ernaux, William Boyd, David Keenan, Jonatha…","last_synced_at":"2026-06-25T10:20:31.999267+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-shakespeare-and-company-interview-174467"},"episode":{"title":"Why Translate Homer Again? Daniel Mendelsohn on his new Odyssey","slug":"why-translate-homer-again-daniel-mendelsohn-on-his-new-odyssey","published_at":"2026-04-02T15:10:07+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-shakespeare-and-company-interview-174467/why-translate-homer-again-daniel-mendelsohn-on-his-new-odyssey","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-shakespeare-and-company-interview-174467","url":"https://shows.acast.com/sandco/episodes/why-translate-homer-again-daniel-mendelsohn-on-his-new-odyss","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/62065b88f850df0012335061/e/69ce86cff44b357ce9220bef/media.mp3","summary":"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…","meta_description":"Why Translate Homer Again? Daniel Mendelsohn on his new Odyssey This conversation explore’s Daniel Mendelsohn’s new translation of The Odyssey. Mendelsohn…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3571,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"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","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-shakespeare-and-company-interview-174467/why-translate-homer-again-daniel-mendelsohn-on-his-new-odyssey.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}