Barbara Gold, the Edward North Chair of Greek and Greek Literature and Professor of Classics Emerita, recently published an article on “Simone Weil’s Iliad: Misunderstanding Homer?” in EuGeStA, the journal of the European Network on Gender Studies in Antiquity.
The article focuses on the philosopher Simone Weil’s translation and reception of Homer’s Iliad. Gold said that although some critics have called it a misreading, she contends that translation and reception comes in many forms and that it is a mistake to label non-literal translations as “misreadings.”
Her analysis also addresses how Weil’s writing about war is marked by her identity not only as a woman, but also as a woman who is drawn to epic poetry. Gold focuses mainly on two episodes in the Iliad – Priam and Achilles in Book 24, and Lycaon and Achilles in Book 21.