Story perspectives

Wilson's scathing “Odyssey” review crashes site, sales jump

8/1/2026

Summary

Story summary

Emily Wilson, classicist and professor, called Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” abysmal and said she would be ashamed to have written any part of it.
Her 4,200-word London Review of Books critique crashed the site.
Audible reported that sales of Wilson’s 2017 translation rose over 600% after the film’s release.
Wilson later posted on Bluesky that she regretted her casting remarks and insisted her criticism was not personal.

History

Historical Context

In 2004, Warner Bros.’ epic “Troy,” starring Brad Pitt, revived interest in Homer’s Iliad, prompting a 300% sales jump for Robert Fagles’s Penguin Classics edition. The New York Times reported Penguin sold an extra 150,000 copies in three months, while curricula in Athens and Cambridge added the edition. Today, Emily Wilson’s London Review critique of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” mirrors the 2004 surge, as Audible reports a 600% rise in her translation sales. Thus, blockbuster adaptations repeatedly spark sales booms for academic texts, urging publishers to plan similar profit strategies for the industry.

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Story summary

Emily Wilson, classicist and professor, called Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” abysmal and said she would be ashamed to have written any part of it.
Her 4,200-word London Review of Books critique crashed the site.
Audible reported that sales of Wilson’s 2017 translation rose over 600% after the film’s release.
Wilson later posted on Bluesky that she regretted her casting remarks and insisted her criticism was not personal.

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