Ben Pease is an epic poem enthusiast and has previously read the Robert Fitzgerald translations of the Iliad, Odyssey, and the Aeneid. On receiving Emily Wilson’s translations for a Christmas present, he thought it would be a worthwhile venture to start a class about the new version. Much of his work is heavily inspired by the epic form, including Chateau Wichman (Big Lucks, 2017), a book-length narrative poem with a cast of fallible gods and humans, and Furniture in Space (factory hollow press), selections from an epic poem inspired by Pease’s hometown friends making movies, and a psychic who gets involved with them in order to have his ultimate vision. Pease is also interested in the art of translation and is curious to see how the new translation compares to others!
