Three thousand years after his time, Homer is coming to Melbourne to become the epicentre of a new literary event. Launched by the independent culture organisation Humanities 21, the Melbourne Homer Festival aspires to breath new life into a timeless body of work.

“We live in a time of great challenge and change, just as the Greeks transitioning from the Bronze Age did. Not only is war and the threat of war with us, Australia in particular is a society of people who have made great and perilous journeys. As we strive to interpret these things artistically, we can have no better guide than Homer.” – Jeff Richardson

Homer himself is one of the most disputed personalities in history, with the time and place of his birth being the subject of debate for centuries, while many doubt that he existed at all, but no one challenges the role of his oeuvre – epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey – as the foundations of Western literature.

It is with this in mind that the festival’s organisers decided to celebrate Homer’s role in literature; after all, Melbourne is not only Australia’s first and only City of Literature (since joining the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in 2008) but also a city of extraordinary Hellenic heritage.

The festival, which will take place in November 2016, bringing together performers, musicians, writers and scholars to celebrate and interpret Homer to a broad audience, will address both features of the city.

“The festival will place the celebration and constant re-examination and re-evaluation of the Homeric tradition and Homeric themes centrally in the cultural life of Melbourne,” says Jeff Richardson, who is a member of the organising committee.

“Without us realising, Homeric themes, tropes and ideas saturate our literature,” he says, explaining the point that the festival will try to make.

As for the timing, “there’s never been a better time”, he says. “We live in a time of great challenge and change, just as the Greeks transitioning from the Bronze Age did. Not only is war and the threat of war with us, Australia in particular is a society of people who have made great and perilous journeys. As we strive to interpret these things artistically, we can have no better guide than Homer”.

A CELEBRATION OF MELBOURNE AS A GREEK CITY OF LITERATURE
The idea of the festival was born in a meeting between two prominent Melbourne classicists: Helen Madden, who has established a strong contemporary tradition of staging ancient Greek drama through her work with the Stork Theatre, and Dr Peter Acton, former vice-president of The Boston Consulting Group and a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Dr Acton is the president of Humanities 21, a not-for-profit, advocacy organisation championing the benefits the humanities can bring to contemporary life. His book Poiesis is a re-examination of manufacturing in fifth century Athens, and its launch was the spark that initiated a festival to celebrate the depth of Melbourne’s literary heritage, and at the same time, its special character as a Greek city in the Antipodes.

Although it is too early for announcements, one of the propositions for the festival has gained attention. Hailed as “an exciting performance” by Mr Richardson, it will “enact and dramatise Odysseus’ journey to the underworld, and the encounters he has there, staged in one of Melbourne’s subterranean railway stations”.

The Homer Festival was launched last November on the rooftop at Tonic House at 386 Flinders Lane, with the participation of academics such as Barry Jones, Jane Montgomery Griffiths, K.O. Chong-Gossard and the Greek Australian poet π.Ο.

As for Jeff Richardson, he may be broadly known as a member of the popular radio comedy ensemble The Coodabeen Champions, but he has also been long involved in the classics, having studied at the University of Melbourne, at Deakin and at Monash and worked as a lecturer at Monash University and a research fellow at RMIT.

“I was very fortunate as an undergraduate at Melbourne University to be taught by outstanding ancient Greek scholars and dramatists James McCaughey and Roger Scott, to name just two,” he remembers. “That gave me a lifelong engagement with ancient Greece”.

It is this kind of engagement that allows him to offer valuable insight on the festival’s aspiration: to introduce Homer to a new audience.

“Of course, there’s an established community of classics and ancient world enthusiasts in Melbourne,” he says.
“But even among Melbourne’s literary community, there’s a sense that Homer is somehow ‘difficult’, daunting and inaccessible. The festival will make Homer attractive to everyone.”

This will hopefully be achieved through readings, performances, scholarly panel discussions – “and of course, feasting,” he exclaims.

* For more information, visit www.humanities21.com.au, call (03) 9224 5184 or email info@humanities21.com.au