Conversations with Tyler27 Mars 2019

Emily Wilson on Translations and Language

In a recent Twitter thread, Emily Wilson listed some of the difficulties of translating Homer into English. Among them: "There aren't enough onomatopoeic words for very loud chaotic noises" (#2 on the list), "It's very hard to come up with enough ways to describe intense desire to act that don't connote modern psychology" (#5), and "There is no common English word of four syllables or fewer connoting 'person particularly favored by Zeus due to high social status, and by the way this is a very normal ordinary word which is not drawing any special attention to itself whatsoever, beyond generic heroizing.'" (#7).

Using Twitter this way is part of her effort to explain literary translation. What do translators do all day? Why can the same sentence turn out so differently depending on the translator? Why did she get stuck translating the Iliad immediately after producing a beloved translation of the Odyssey?

She and Tyler discuss these questions and more, including why Silicon Valley loves Stoicism, whether Plato made Socrates sound smarter than he was, the future of classics education, the effect of AI on translation, how to make academia more friendly to women, whether she'd choose to 'overlive', and the importance of having a big Ikea desk and a huge orange cat.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Recorded March 7th, 2019

Other ways to connect

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Tyler on Twitter
Follow Emily on Twitter
Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(288)

Tom Holland on History, Christianity, and the Value of the Countryside

Historian Tom Holland joined Tyler to discuss in what ways his Christianity is influenced by Lord Byron, how the Book of Revelation precipitated a revolutionary tradition, which book of the Bible is m...

22 Mars 202353min

Yasheng Huang on the Development of the Chinese State

Yasheng Huang has written two of Tyler's favorite books on China: Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics, which contrasts an entrepreneurial rural China and a state-controlled urban China, and The ...

8 Mars 202354min

Brad DeLong on Intellectual and Technical Progress

Brad DeLong, professor of economics at UC Berkley, OG econ blogger, and Tyler's Harvard classmate, joins the show to discuss Slouching Towards Utopia, an economic history of the 20th century that's b...

22 Feb 202347min

Glenn Loury on the Cover Story and the Real Story

Economist and public intellectual Glenn Loury joined Tyler to discuss the soundtrack of Glenn's life, Glenn's early career in theoretical economics, his favorite Thomas Schelling story, the best place...

8 Feb 202348min

Paul Salopek on Walking the World

Paul Salopek is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and National Geographic fellow who, at the age of 50, set out on foot to retrace the steps of the first human migrations out of Africa. The project,...

25 Jan 202345min

Rick Rubin on Listening, Taste, and the Act of Noticing

Rick Rubin has been behind some of the most iconic and successful albums in music history, and his unique approach to production and artist development has made him one of the most respected figures i...

18 Jan 202355min

Katherine Rundell on the Art of Words

Katherine Rundell is, in a word, enthusiastic. She's enthusiastic about John Donne. She's enthusiastic about walking along rooftops. She's enthusiastic about words, and stories, and food. She has ofte...

11 Jan 202353min

Conversations with Tyler 2022 Retrospective

On this special year-in-review episode, Tyler and producer Jeff Holmes talk about the past year on the show, including which guests he'd like to have on in 2023, what stands out to him now about his c...

28 Dec 202252min