Gazing into the Eye of the Future: A Review of The Odyssey by Homer: A Translation by Daniel Mendelsohn

by Sterling Davis





    There are so many hermeneutics regarding the proper way to translate literary texts. Let's relegate them all to the nearest wastebasket gaper. This review will focus on the only criterion that actually matters. Namely, is the book good?

    Daniel Mendelsohn is something of a genius. If his project with this text is to revivify the contents of Homer's Odyssey for our postmodern moment, he should be rightly fêted. Mendelsohn is in many ways a pointillist. And it is undeniable that his translation is among--if not the--most conscientious and masterful iterations of Homer's epic.

    Mendelsohn's translation holds a mirror to our present moment. All of the themes of this text are simultaneously timeless and shockingly late-breaking. Whether it be the hero's journey to completion, or at least some kind of telos; love and betrayal; armed conflict; or overcoming adversity and opposition--all of the most human themes are in motion, at play. This translation has verily, in its own way, elided the Gordian knot. It is both literary and interesting. Beautiful but full-throttle. I am almost speechless.

    I will leave it to the reader to pour all the time they can into this important text. It is an entire humanist education in one book. And it is worth it.


Sterling Davis is the Executive Editor of Poetries in English Magazine.

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​​​SHARE - Issue: 1.8 / April 2026