The first stanza of Emily Wilson’s electrifying translation of Homer’s The Odyssey opens and closes with the poet’s directive: “Tell me about a complicated man… [T]ell the old story for our modern ...

In the 17th century, the poet John Dryden satirized the deep anxiety around letting women learn the Classics: But of all Plagues, the greatest is untold; The Book-Learn'd Wife in Greek and Latin bold.