A literary firefight has broken out over Christopher Nolan's film adaptation of The Odyssey, pitting one of America's most prolific novelists against the translator many consider the definitive English voice of Homer.

Emily Wilson — whose translations of The Odyssey and The Iliad are published by Norton — published a critical essay titled "An Uncomplicated Man" in the London Review of Books (Volume 48, Number 14, dated 2026-07-29). In it, she wrote bluntly of Nolan's script: "I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script." She expanded on her critique in The Guardian, arguing that "Nolan's Odyssey lacks many of the elements that make the poem great" (The Guardian). Wilson also appeared on the London Review of Books Podcast in an episode titled "Nolan v. Homer" alongside Thomas Jones to discuss the film (LRB).

Joyce Carol Oates responded on social media with force. She described Wilson's tone as "dismissal & haughty superiority" and said it "strike[s] a sour note." Oates went further, comparing Wilson's language to "the crude language of MAGA folks attacking someone with ideas that differ from hers" (Deadline).

Oates defended the creative impulse behind the adaptation. "I see no reason why Nolan, or anyone else, should not re-imagine/re-envision a classical hero through the prism of his own invention," she wrote. She argued that the harsh criticism "is chilling, dampening for any creative artist" and likened the attacks to treating Nolan "as if he were a criminal" (Deadline).

Oates also waded into the question of translation itself. She recommended Daniel Mendelsohn's translation of The Odyssey as "the most elegant," calling it "poetic" and "beautiful, melodic." Had Nolan used language at that register, Oates argued, critics would have complained it was "too elevated, poetic" rather than banal (Deadline).

Oates has clearly been living with the film. She posted on 2026-07-24 that Nolan's The Odyssey "lacks any sexuality whatsoever" and described the interaction between Matt Damon's Odysseus and Samantha Morton's Circe as "very sterile" (X/@JoyceCarolOates). Two days later, she said she had re-watched Nolan's film several times and then started re-watching the 1997 television adaptation of The Odyssey (X/@JoyceCarolOates). The Guardian reported that Oates considers that 1990s television version the best screen adaptation of the poem.

On 2026-07-29, Oates observed that Book 10 of The Odyssey — featuring Odysseus and the cannibal giants — is among the least discussed episodes in Nolan's adaptation (X/@JoyceCarolOates).

Wilson's critique has drawn fire from other quarters as well. Slate published an article calling her LRB arguments "baffling" and defending the adaptation (Slate).

What makes the exchange unusual is the calibre of the combatants. Wilson is the first woman to publish a complete English translation of The Odyssey; Oates is one of the most decorated living American novelists. The disagreement is not about whether the film works as entertainment but about what fidelity to a 2,700-year-old poem even means when the medium changes from chanted verse to IMAX.