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Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Vancouver International Film Centre, Canada
Presented with
STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE IN HOMERIC TIMES
A dramatic reading of excerpts from Homer’s Iliad
Translation by Robert Fagles
Courage, tragic loss, anger and also extraordinary nobility and generosity in the midst of battle—these are the values enshrined in Homer’s great epic, the earliest literature of Europe that survives today. The Iliad depicts an episode in the Trojan War, which dates perhaps to the 13th-century BCE, though the version of the poem we possess was composed several centuries later.
The Iliad offers the earliest detailed description of an athletic contest in world literature. The games commemorate the dead, practice for real battle, provide entertainment and comic relief (even in war), serve as a safe outlet for aggression, are a model of peaceable competition as opposed to the real menace of battle, and act as a symbol of cooperation and reconciliation rather than violent conflict, and more. The Homeric games, celebrated in honor of a slain hero, may well have inspired the original Olympic Games. These dramatic readings, from one of the world’s greatest poems, bring vividly to life the action, excitement and suspense of an ancient athletic contest.
Readings will be from books 7, 10, 22, 23 and 24 of the Iliad by Homer.
| Translated by Robert Fagles. Copyright © Robert Fagles, 1990. Used through arrangement with Georges Borchardt, Inc. on behalf of the Estate of Robert Fagles. All rights reserved. |
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Commentary by Dr. David Konstan, The John Rowe Workman Distinguished Professor of Classics and the Humanistic Tradition, Departments of Classics and Comparative Literature, Brown University |
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Directed by David Muse, Associate Artistic Director, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington, D.C. |
The dramatic reading will be performed by professional actors.
Special thanks to the Hellenic Canadian Congress of B.C.