Efimia Karakantza
Efimia D. Karakantza is Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Literature at the University of Patras, Greece, where she has taught since 2007. Her degrees are from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (BA in Classics 1986) and Reading University (PhD in Classics 1993). She is an Associate of Ancient Greek Literature of the Center for Hellenic Studies, University of Harvard, for which she directs the Kyklos project.
Most of her publications have been on Homer, Attic Drama and on the History of Critical Reception of Greek Antiquity.
Her books include:
Ancient Greek Myths. The 20th century discourse on their nature and interpretation (Metaixmio: Athens 2004).
Who Am I? (Mis)Identity and the Polis in Oedipus Tyrannus, Hellenic Studies Series 86. Harvard University Press: Cambr. MASS: 2019.
Antigone. In the Gods and Heroes in the Ancient World series by Routledge (co-authored with Anastasia Bakogianni, forthcoming in 2020).
In 2014 she introduced a course on the Reception of Ancient Greek Drama at the department of Philology (Classics division) at the University of Patras. She has also introduced a course (spring semester 2018-19) on Feminist Criticism and Classical Studies, the first perhaps such course ever introduced in classics departments of Greek Universities. She is the Director of the Jocasta Classical Reception Greece project (http://jocasta.upatras.gr).
She is interested in contemporary cinema and theatrical performances that explore (directly or indirectly) aspects of the Classical tradition aiming at reconstructing a discourse that renegotiates issues of ethnic and political identity, gender, and ultimately the (new) notion of ‘human’.
LECTURE DESCRIPTION
Revisiting the limits of tragic discourse in modernity and postmodernity: The adventures of Antigone
Antigone is undoubtedly one of the most influential figures of ancient drama: famous in antiquity, widely recognised in modernity and postmodernity. The huge success of the original, 5th BC performance made Sophocles’ Antigone the canon for later treatments of the story, retrospectively influencing and readjusting earlier configurations of the character. This huge success was reinstated in the 19th century, when Hegel chose Sophocles’ Antigone as his focus
for discussing issues of ethics and politics in his Phenomenology of Spirit. Gradually, as we enter the postmodern era, Antigone is reconfigured as a symbol of resistance against authoritarian regimes across the globe. She identifies with the unwritten laws, the rights of the family, and a universal notion of justice. Historically, we move from Antigone as the female protector of the family to Antigone as the political agent, finally arriving to the late 20th-century ‘feminist’ Antigone who subverts the patriarchal laws of kinship and articulates a contemporary female discourse.