Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has a fan in author Joyce Carol Oates, who has defended it from “inappropriate” criticism levied by acclaimed translator Emily Wilson.
It is Wilson’s version of Homer’s Odyssey that inspired Nolan’s blockbuster film, but earlier this week, she said she “would be ashamed to have written any part of its script” and described its writing as “abysmal”.
In a now-viral article on the film for the London Review of Books, she argued that Nolan’s film loses the complexity that defines Odysseus (Matt Damon) and its women characters, including Penelope (Anne Hathaway), and described its narrative structure as gimmicky.
Blonde and We Were Mulvaneys author Oates condemned Wilson for having “a tone of dismissal and haughty superiority” that “strikes a sour note”.
She added that “rather than disagreeing with interpretations of Homer in a collegial manner, this person, who has benefited enormously from Nolan’s film, speaks in the crude language of MAGA folks attacking someone with ideas that differ from hers.”
Oates continued: “Within the world of translators, this seems all the more surprising since all translations are, presumably, subjective & not equivalent to the original text.
“One would expect a translator, of all people, beholden to a text, in service to a text, to be just a wee bit more thoughtful & respectful of others who are acting in good faith just as (she would claim) she is.”
Oates defended Nolan’s attempt to “reimagine a classic hero through the prism of his own invention”. The author levelled that she doesn’t think The Odyssey “will be considered a great classic”, but that “whatever Nolan did, it would disappoint hordes of people”.
“Most moviemakers/creators just try the best they can – it seems odd that this director has drawn such angry criticism,” she said.
Wilson became the first woman to publish a complete English translation of The Odyssey in 2017. In an interview with Empire magazine in November 2025, Nolan said it was the opening line of Wilson's translation – “Tell me about a complicated man” – that unlocked his approach to Odysseus.
“The genius of the character, the cleverness, the inventiveness of him, that was a huge part of what interested me. He’s not just a soldier. He’s an amazing strategist, a very wily person,” he said.
Wilson seized on that in her review, writing: “As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Nolan has read at least the first line of my translation of The Odyssey into iambic pentameter. But I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.”
Oates is best known for her 1999 novel Blonde, which reimagines the life of Marilyn Monroe. It was adapted into a movie in 2022, starring Ana de Armas.
