Tina Krontiris
Contact: krontir[at]enl.auth.gr

GENERAL PROFILE

Tina Krontiris is Professor Emerita of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She specializes in Renaissance literature and drama with an emphasis on Shakespeare and his reception in Greece. From the completion of her doctorate in 1987 to her recent retirement from active service at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki she has devoted herself to teaching and research of high standards. Her first major contribution, made through her book Oppositional Voices (Routledge, 1992), was the idea that we can rewrite Renaissance literary history to include women writers not as oddities or passive victims of patriarchy but as active subjects, who appropriated and opposed disabling stereotypes as they negotiated their way through the contradictions of ideology and the paradoxes of change. Her second major contribution was in the area of Shakespeare. At Aristotle’s School of English, where she taught for twenty-nine years, she organized Shakespeare studies almost ‘from scratch’, developing a structure that included a number of regularly-offered elective courses (undergraduate and postgraduate), as well as an extensive collection of library books that could support MA and doctoral research. At an international level, she contributed several ideas based on primary research material related to Shakespeare’s reception in Greece. She consciously sought to place Greece firmly on the global Shakespeare map, especially with the idea that Shakespeare behaves differently in the cultural environment of Greece and more so during moments of historical and political crisis. In the past twenty years she has been the main spokesperson on Greek Shakespeare, actively participating in World Shakespeare Congresses and attending the biennial International Shakespeare Conference at Stratford. She is a contributor to the forthcoming Stanford Global Shakespeare Encyclopedia online and The Routledge Handbook of Shakespeare and Global Appropriation. Currently, she is continuing her research on Greek Shakespeare, concentrating on ancient sites and national theatres.

QUALIFICATIONS

  • Β.Α. with High Distinction in English (University of Illinois, 1974)
  • Μ.Α. (George Washington University, 1978)
  • Ph.D. (University of Sussex, 1988; thesis title: “Women Writers and Dominant Ideology in the English Renaissance”; supervisor: Jonathan Dollimore)

PUBLICATIONS

The following is a selected list of publications.

Books & Monographs

  • Oppositional Voices: Women as Writers and Translators in the English Renaissance. London & New York: Routledge, 1992. Paperback edition, 1997.
  • Women and/in the Renaissance. Thessaloniki: University Studio Press, 2000.
  • Ο Σαιξπηρ σε καιρό πολέμου, 1940-1950 [Shakespeare in Wartime]. Athens: Alexandria Publishers, 2007. Written in Greek.
  • Μακμπέθ: κριτικές προσεγγίσεις [Macbeth: Critical Approaches]. Thessaloniki: University Studio Press, 2001. Written in Greek.
  • Αντώνιος και Κλεοπάτρα: κριτικές προσεγγίσεις [Antony and Cleopatra: Critical Approaches]. Thessaloniki: University Studio Press, 2000. Written in Greek.
  • Ο Σαίξπηρ, η Αναγέννηση κι εμείς [Shakespeare, the Renaissance and Ourselves]. Thessaloniki: University Studio Press, 2002. Written in Greek.

Edited Books

  • Shakespeare and the Idea of an Audience, a special issue of GRAMMA, vol. 15. Ed. Tina Krontiris and Jyotsna Singh. Thessaloniki: Aristotle University Publications, 2007.
  • Η προσαρμοστικότητα του Σαίξπηρ [Shakespeare’s Adaptability], ed. Tina Krontiris. Athens: Ergo, 2005. Contains essays by Peter Holland, Michael Dobson, Kiernan Ryan, Tina Krontiris, and Krystyna Kujawinska. [Translated into Greek.]
  • Η Λογοτεχνία και οι Προϋποθέσεις της: τιμητικό αφιέρωμα στην Τζίνα Πολίτη. [Literature and Its Presuppositions: in Honour of Jina Politi]. Ed. Tina Krontiris and Katerina Kitsi. Thessaloniki: University Studio Press, 1999. Contains Greek and English essays.
  • Γυναίκα, Λογοτεχνία, Θεωρία: Εργασίες Συμποσίου. [Women, Literature, Theory: Symposium Proceedings]. Thessaloniki: Aristotle University, School of English, 1994. Translated into Greek.

Articles in professional journals & book chapters

  • Miranda, directed by Oskaras Koršunovas for Poreia Theatre in Athens [review of the performance, accessed on 14 April 2020 during Covid-19 Lockdown], Cahiers Élisabéthains, vol. 101.2 (Fall 2020): 33-36.
  • “Shakespeare’s Presence in the Land of Ancient Drama: Karolos Koun’s Attempts to Acculturate Shakespeare in Greece,” in The Routledge Handbook of Shakepseare and Global Appropriation, ed. Christy Desmet, Sujata Iyengar and Mariam Jacobson. Routledge, 2018.
  • “Greece in Shakespeare” and “Shakespeare in Greece.” The Stanford Global Shakespeare Encyclopedia, on line. Ed. Patricia Parker. Stanford University Press, forthcoming.
  • "The Merchant of Venice at the National Theatre of Greece (1945) and the Silencing of the Holocaust", Shakespeare Survey 67, ed. Peter Holland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
  • "Shakespeare in Extremis: The Staging of the Classics by Greek Political Exiles (1951-1953)", in Renaissance Shakespeare, Shakespeare Renaissances, ed. M. Prochazka, M. Dobson et al, Univ. of Delaware Press, 2013.
  • "Shakespeare and Censorship during the Second World War: Othello in Occupied Greece", in Shakespeare and the Second World War: Memory, Culture, Identity, ed. Irena Makaryk, University of Toronto Press, 2012.
  • "Οι πρώτες μεταπολεμικές προσπάθειες ανανέωσης της σκηνής και η πρόταση της Αυλαίας", Πρακτικά Γ’ Πανελληνίου Θεατρολογικού Συνεδρίου, επιμ. Αντώνης Γλυτζουρής, Εκδόσεις Πανεπιστημίου Κρήτης, 2010. [The first postwar attempts at stage renewal in the Greek theatre: the Avlaia Theatre Company, 1945.]
  • "Henry V and the Anglo-Greek Alliance in World War II", in European Shakespeares, ed. Carla Calvo & Ton Hoenselaars, a special section of The Shakespearean International Yearbook, Ashgate Publishing, 2008.
  • "Shakespearean Histories and Greek History: Henry V and Richard II at the Greek National Theatre (1941, 1947)", Shakespeare and Europe: History-Performance-Memory, a special issue of Multicultural Shakespeare, vol. 4 (2007): 37-50.
  • "Shakespeare and Conservatism during the Greek Civil War (1946-1950)", Journal of Modern Greek Studies [Johns Hopkins UP] 25.2 (Oct. 2007): 195-212.
  • "Translation as Appropriation: Vassilis Rotas, Shakespeare and Modern Greek", Shakespeare Survey, vol. 58 (2005): 208-219.
  • "Η μετάφραση ως μορφή οικειοποίησης Ο Σαίξπηρ στη δημοτική του Βασίλη Ρώτα." In Η προσαρμοστικότητα του Σαίξπηρ, ed. T. Krontiris and K. Kitsi. Athens: Ergo, 2005. 143-167.
  • "The Omniscient 'Auctor': Ideology and Point of View in Measure for Measure," English Studies [Swets & Zeitlinger], 80.4 (August 1999).
  • "Αριστοτέλης, Σαίξπηρ και διακειμενικότητα: η περίπτωση του τραγικού ήρωα" [Aristotle, Shakespeare and Intertextuality: the case of the tragic hero]. In Η Λογοτεχνία και οι Προϋποθέσεις της, ed. Tina Krontiris and Katerina Kitsi. Thessaloniki: University Studio Press, 1999. Written in Greek.
  • "Tragic Character and Ideology in King Lear," Gramma 5 (1997):109-123.
  • "Noblewomen Dramatizing the Husband-Wife Conflict." In Readings in Renaissance Women’s Drama, ed. Susan Cerasano and Marion Wynne-Davies. London: Routledge, 1998.
  • "Tragic Hero and Tragic Victim: The Othello-Desdemona Relationship in Shakespeare's Othello," in Logomachia: Forms of Opposition in English Language/ Literature, ed. E. Douka-Kambitoglou. Thessaloniki: Hellenic Association for the Study of English, 1994.
  • "Reading with the Author's Sex: A Comparison of Shakespeare's Othello and Massinger's The Duke of Milan," Gramma 1(1992): 123-36.
  • "Style and Gender in Elizabeth Cary's Edward II," in The Renaissance Englishwoman in Print: Counterbalancing the Canon, ed. A. Haselkorn and B. Travitsky. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1990.
  • "Breaking Barriers of Genre and Gender: Margaret Tyler's Translation of the Mirrour of Knighthood", English Literary Renaissance 18.1 (Winter 1988): 19-39.
  • "Renaissance and Early Seventeenth Century Women's Writing", in The Annotated Bibliography for English Studies, on line & CD-ROM, Volume 304. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1996-1998.
  • “Lacan’s Theory of Language and the Fight Against Sexism,” Working Papers on Language and Sexism, vol. 1.2 , ed. Anne Pauwels, Clayton Vic.: Monasch University, Department of Linguistics, 1991: 43-51.

Minor publications

  • “Sam Mendes’s Richard III at Epidaurus,” review of actual performance, posted 16/09/2011 on Blogging Shakespeare.
  • “Γιατί ο Σαίξπηρ είναι διαχρονικός” & “Η παγκοσμιοποίηση της μελέτης του,” στο ένθετο περιοδ. Βιβλιοθήκη, Ελευθεροτυπία, 10 Μαρτίου 2006, σ. 12-14, 22-23. [“Why is Shakespeare for all time” and “The globalization of his study” in the Bookcase of the newspaper Eleftherotypia, 10 March 2006].
  • “Στην Ελλάδα με τον Σαίξπηρ: μια σύντομη ανασκόπηση της παρουσίας του μεγάλου βάρδου στα ελληνικά γράμματα και στο θέατρο με αφορμή την επέτειο των 400 χρόνων από τον θάνατό του,” Το Βήμα, 16 Οκτωβρίου 2016. [“In Greece with Shakespeare: a brief survey of the great bard’s presence in Greek letters and theatre, occasioned by the commemoration of 400 years from his death,” To Vima, 16 October 2016.]
  • “Το χειμωνιάτικο παραμύθι,” πρόγραμμα του Φεστιβάλ Επιδαύρου για την Παράσταση του έργου The Winter’s Tale (σκην. Sam Mendes), Επίδαυρος, 21-22 Αυγούστου 2009. [“The Winter’s Tale,” programme of the Epidaurus Festival for the production of Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale (dir. Sam Mendes), Epidaurus, 21-22 Aug. 2009.]
  • “Οι δολοφονίες του Μακμπέθ,” πρόγραμμα του ΚΘΒΕ για την παράσταση του έργου Μακμπέθ (σκην. Αναστασία Ρεβή), Θεσσαλονικη, Ιαν.- Φεβρ. 2016. [“The Assassinations of Macbeth,” programme of the National Theatre of Northern Greece for the production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth (dir. Anastasia Revi), Thessaloniki, Jan. – Feb. 2016.]

TEACHING

TK has taught in various colleges and universities in the U.S. and in Greece. From 1974 to 1982 (before she acquired her PhD), she taught mainly introductory English composition and English literature courses at George Washington University, Chicago State University, Northeastern University and Deree College (the American College of Greece).

From 1989 to 2018 she occupied the following positions at Aristotle University:

  • 1989-1992: Lecturer
  • 1992-1998: Assistant Professor
  • 1998-2007: Associate Professor
  • 2007-2018: Professor

Among the courses she offered at Aristotle University’s School of English are the following:

Undergraduate level

  • Survey of English Literature: the Renaissance
  • Survey of English Literature and Culture I [medieval to 18thC]
  • Women Writers
  • The Sixteenth-Century Lyric
  • Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama
  • Shakespeare
  • Shakespeare on Film
  • Introduction to Literary Studies
  • Introduction to Drama

Post-graduate (MA) level

  • Shakespearean Drama: Text and History
  • Shakespearean Drama: the Determinants of Interpretation
  • Shakespeare and Violence

CREATION OF MA PROGRAMMES

Along with her colleague Zoe Detsi, Tina Krontiris was instrumental in organizing, constituting and for some time co-directing two successive MA programmes: Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (2014-2016) and English and American Studies (2016-present). This was the first joint effort to create a postgraduate course of study that combined forces from the two separate Departments of English Literature and American Literature at Aristotle University’s School of English.

SUPERVISION OF DOCTORAL RESEARCH

Doctoral research brought to completion

  • Dimitra Dalpanagioti, The Translation of William Shakespeare’s Plays and the Changing Concept of Womanhood in Greece (1875-1955). Completed in 2020.
  • Öz Öktem, The Representation of Muslim Women in English Renaissance Drama. Completed in 2014.
  • Dora Mavropoulou, Oi parastaseis tou Saikspir stin Ellada (1900-1950) [Shakespeare performances in Greece, 1900-1950].
    Co-supervised. Completed in 2007.
  • Xenia Georgopoulou, The Fashioning of the Female in Shakespeare. Completed in 2005.
  • Effie Botonaki, Seventeenth-Century English Women’s Autobiographical Writings. Completed in 1998. 

Doctoral research currently in progress

  • Dimitra Koutla, Colonialism in the Literary, Historical and Philosophical Discourses of Early Modern England 

LECTURES ABROAD

TK has presented papers in numerous conferences round the world. In addition, she has lectured as invited speaker at the following institutions and venues:

Pisa, Italy, University of Piza, 12-22 November 2009. “The Staging of Shakespearean Conflict and War Trauma: The Merchant of Venice on the Greek Stage in 1945,” a plenary talk at the 8th International ESRA Conference.

Lodz, Poland, University of Lodz, Department of British & Commonwealth Studies, 10-16 November 2013. A series of lectures on the following topics: “Eros, Poetic Subjectivity, and the Negotiation of Petrarchan Conventions in Mary Wroth’s Pamphilia to Amphilanthus; “Aristotle and Shakespeare: the Question of Influence Re-visited with a Postmodern Concept of Intertextuality; “Shakespeare in Wartime Greece: the First Postwar Producton of The Mercahnt of Venice (1945).

Istanbul, Turkey, Kultur University, Department of English Language and Literature, 7 April 2015. “Violence and/in Shakespeare,” lecture in a symposium entitled “Myriad Faces of Violence in Literature.”

ORGANIZATION OF CONFERENCES/SYMPOSIA

Thessaloniki, Greece, Telogleion Foundaton of Art/ Aristotle University, 22 October 2016: “Shakespeare’s Relationship to Classical and Modern Greece.” An international symposium organized by Tina Krontiris for the commemoration of 400 years from Shakespeare’s death.

Prague, Czech Republic, 17-22 July, 2011: "Shakespeare, War and the Conditions of Performance", a seminar co-organized and co-conducted by Tina Krontiris & Irena Makaryk within the Ninth World Shakespeare Congress.

Thessaloniki, Greece, History Centre of Thessaloniki, May 2003: “Shakespeare’s Adaptability.” An international symposium organized by Tina Krontiris, with the with the support of the British Council.

Thessaloniki, School of English, Aristotle University, May 2003: “Women/Literature/Theory.” An international symposium co-organized with Ruth Parkin-Gounelas et al.

PROFESSIONAL JOURNALS (REFEREE & ADVISOR FOR)

TK is on the advisory board of two international professional journals: Multicultural Shakespeare and Journal for Early Modern Studies.

Also, at various times, she has been asked to evaluate papers considered for publication by the following journals:

  • Comparative Studies
  • Cahiers Élisabéthains
  • Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies
  • Multicultural Shakespeare
  • Theatre Quarterly
  • Borrowers and Lenders

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

TK is a regular invitee at the ISA Conference, which is hosted biennially by the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford.

She is a member of: The European Shakespeare Research Association & The International Shakespeare Association.

OTHER ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES

Creating & organizing a student Shakespeare company

In early 2016, TK formed a group of nine students into a theatre company, named ‘The Bard Players’, with the purpose of showing them how to do things with Shakespeare and how to present a final product to an audience. She worked collectively and intensively with the students for several months, teaching them how to read iambic pentameter, how to interpret passages, how to make up a play-text, how to construct props, and how to incorporate music and dance into a performance. Conscious of the idea that the Bard Players could be the start of a legacy that combined performance with the teaching of Shakespeare at Aristotle University, TK described the purpose of the group in detail, video-recorded its performances and created a digital archive, which may be viewed here: http://www.enl.auth.gr/sp/ and http://www.enl.auth.gr/sp/performances.html.

Connecting with the school communities

TK supported the University’s effort to reach out to the school communities in several ways: she participated in the official Mentoring System of the Directive of Secondary Schools of Thessaloniki, explaining and demonstrating university coursework to prospective students (1-10 December 2014); she supervised performances of the Bard Players in the Experimental Primary School in Evosmos, Thessaloniki (1 June 2016); she conducted theatrical workshops for teachers and parents on Shakespeare Day at the Artistic School of Thessaloniki (16 Dec 2016).