Course taught by English professor Karolyn Steffens uses the same translation of epic Greek poem that informed Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation.
by Duane Bonifer
COLUMBIA, KY. (07/29/2026) Few audience members are better prepared to see Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of Homer’s “The Odyssey” than Lindsey Wilson University students who have taken English professor Karolyn Steffens’ “Mythology & Folklore in Literature” class.
“The Odyssey,” which tells the story of Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, on his 10-year journey home after the Trojan War, is one of the ancient texts students read in Steffens’ class, which she last taught in the spring.
And thanks to the 2017 translation of the 3,000-year-old epic poem by classicist scholar Emily Wilson, “The Odyssey” has been one of the more popular books in the class. Wilson’s translation of “The Odyssey” was also the core text that informed Nolan’s film, which opened nationwide on July 17.
“My students love Emily Wilson’s translation because she has made the text accessible to a new generation of students,” said Steffens.
Steffens helps her students become comfortable with reading a poem that runs more than 12,000 lines with “‘Odyssey’ Fridays.” Students read a couple books of the epic each week throughout the semester and analyze them together in class, sometimes meeting outside in the Dr. Shilpan M. Patel Amphitheater.
“When we meet in the amphitheater, I have a student stand in the circle and read the passage we’re analyzing,” she said. “Standing in the circle throws your voice, which students think is a cool experience and reproduces the oral tradition of the original.”
Evaluating the film
Steffens has studied “The Odyssey” for much of her academic career, beginning in high school and right on through graduate school.
“‘The Odyssey’ has been with me forever,” said Steffens, who was a classics minor as an undergraduate. Her children have also grown up with it — she read them “The Odyssey” when they were infants.
So, “like a true nerd,” Steffens saw “The Odyssey” twice on opening weekend — on opening day and then again on Sunday, July 19. She called Nolan’s film “a cinematic achievement.”
“I like it a lot,” said Steffens, who was a film minor in graduate school. “I think it’s hands down the best cinematic adaptation of ‘The Odyssey’ I’ve seen. On a cinematic level, it’s just absolutely phenomenal and staggering as a technical achievement.”
Steffens said that two themes Nolan explores in his interpretation of “The Odyssey” especially stood out to her.
“One thing he gets right from Wilson’s translation is the idea of Odysseus as a military veteran who is suffering from, what we today would call, post-traumatic stress disorder,” she said. “And Nolan also explores the idea of ‘xenia,’ the ancient Greek concept of hospitality, especially to foreigners and to strangers. The film puts trauma and ‘xenia’ front and center.”
Sales of Wilson’s 2017 translation of “The Odyssey” have surged since Nolan announced his film, eclipsing 1 million copies sold in early July. By the end of the month, Wilson’s translation was among the 10 bestselling books on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Steffens said she would be thrilled if more people read the translation due to public interest in Nolan’s film adaptation.
“As with all great works of literature, it is timeless because, like Shakespeare, Homer speaks to us of universal human experiences just as relevant today as they were in the ancient world,” said Steffens.
Lindsey Wilson University English professor Karolyn Steffens uses Emily Wilson’s translation of Homer’s “The Odyssey” in her “Mythology & Folklore in Literature” class.
Lindsey Wilson University is a vibrant liberal arts university in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with The United Methodist Church, the mission of Lindsey Wilson is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being. Lindsey Wilson offers 30 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program. The university’s 29 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams have won more than 120 team and individual national championships.
(Duane Bonifer – Lindsey Wilson University)