Jeffrey Brown:

And now 51, she's been living in a long time. That's Wilson at age 8 reenacting a scene from "The Odyssey."

In 2017 her translation of that epic, the story of the hero's return home from the Trojan War, gained widespread acclaim. Remarkably, it was the first ever by a woman into English. And two years later, Wilson won a MacArthur genius award for — quote — "bringing classical literature to new audiences in works that convey ancient texts' relevance to our time."

Now she's translated Homers "Iliad" set amid the war itself, Greeks fighting Trojans and one another, the great warrior Achilles battling his enemies and, it seems, at times, himself.

In the introduction, you call it "the most gripping and heartbreaking work of literature I know."

In what way? Why?

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