Department of Classics and Archaeology

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Betine Van Zyl Smit

Honorary Associate Professor of Classics,

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Biography

I studied at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa where I also obtained my DLItt. I taught at three universities in South Africa before coming to the University of Nottingham in 2006. I retired at the end of July 2020 and am now an Honorary Associate Professor.

Expertise Summary

I have experience in teaching Latin at various levels, from Beginners' to advanced Latin texts. My research has focused on the reception of ancient drama in the later and modern world.

Teaching Summary

Latin language and literature.

Reception of Classical literature, especially drama.

Senecan tragedy.

Roman comedy..

Research Summary

Hugo Claus and the Classics. His adaptation of the tragedies of Seneca. His translation and adaptation of Greek comedy and tragedy.

The reception of Greek tragedy in later and modern literature.

The reception of classical drama in South Africa.

Recent Publications

Past Research

See publications.

Future Research

Further research into the reception of Classical Drama in South Africa

Research into the reception of classical literature in modern literature.

  • BETINE VAN ZYL SMIT, 2020. Revenge for Murder seen through Modern Eyes. In: DAVID STUTTARD, ed., Looking at Agamemnon 1st. Bloomsbury.
  • 2019. Hugo Claus' transformation of Greek tragedy to a new aesthetic International Journal of the Classical Tradition. 27(4), 610-28
  • 2017. Antigone enters the modern world. In: Looking at Antigone 1st. Bloomsbury Academic.
  • 2016. 'Bacchae' in the Modern World'. In: Looking at 'Bacchae' 1st. Bloomsbury. 147-61
  • BETINE VAN ZYL SMIT, ed., 2016. Handbook to the Reception of Greek Drama: Introduction 1st. Wiley-Blackwell.
  • 2016. The Reception of Greek Drama in England from the Seventeenth to the Twenty-first Century. In: A Handbook to the Reception of Greek Drama Wiley-Blackwell. 304-322
  • BETINE VAN ZYL SMIT, 2015. Seneca Tragicus in the twentieth century: Hugo Claus' adaptations of 'Oedipus' and 'Thyestes'. In: GEORGE W. M. HARRISON, ed., Brill's Companion to Roman Tragedy first. Brill.
  • 2015. Griekse Drama in die Moderne Wereld Akroterion: Journal for the Classics in South Africa. 60, 65-81
  • BETINE VAN ZYL SMIT, 2014. Culture, Education and Politics: Greek and Roman Comedy in Afrikaans. In: S. DOUGLAS OLSON, ed., Ancient Comedy and Reception: Studies in the Classical Tradition of Comedy from Aristophanes to the Twenty-first Century first. De Gruyter. 984-999
  • BETINE VAN ZYL SMIT, 2014. Black Medeas. In: DAVID STUTTARD, ed., Looking at Medea 1st. Bloomsbury. 157-166
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2012. Jasper Heywood's translations of Senecan tragedy Acta Classica: Proceedings of the Classical Association of South Africa. 55, 99-117
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2011. Oedipus and Afrikaans theater Comparative Drama. 45(1), 477-493
  • BETINE VAN ZYL SMIT, 2010. Review of Gregory A. Staley (ed.) American Women and Classical Myths International Journal of the Classical Tradition. 146-149
  • BETINE VAN ZYL SMIT, 2010. The amorous queen and the country bumpkin - Clytaemestra and Egistus in Dracontius' Orestis tragoedia Akroterion. 55, 25-36 (In Press.)
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2010. Orestes and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Oxford Journal of Classical Receptions. 2(1), 114-135
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2008. From Penelope to Winnie Mandela: women who waited International Journal of the Classical Tradition. 15(3), 393-406
  • BETINE VAN ZYL SMIT, 2008. Seneca's representation of Andromache and its reception in French drama Acta Classica. 51, 163-185
  • BETINE VAN ZYL SMIT, 2008. Review of 'Classics in Post-Colonial Worlds' eds L. Hardwick & C. Gillespie Acta Classica. 51, 202-207
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2007. Freeing Aristophanes in South Africa - from high culture to contemporary satire. In: HALL, E. and WRIGLEY, A., eds., Aristophanes in Performance 421 BC - AD 2007: Peace, Birds, and Frogs Oxford: Legenda. 232-46
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2007. Multicultural reception: Greek drama in South Africa in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In: HARDWICK, L. and STRAY, C., eds., A Companion to Classical Receptions Oxford: Blackwell. 373-385
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2007. 'Medea' in Afrikaans. In: HILTON, J. & GOSLING, A., ed., Alma parens originalis?: The receptions of Classical literature and thought in Africa, Europe, the United States and Cuba Bern: Peter Lang. 73-91 (In Press.)
  • BETINE VAN ZYL SMIT, 2007. medEia - a South African Medea at the start of the 21st century Akroterion. 52, 1-10
  • BETINE VAN ZYL SMIT, 2007. Review of 'Agamemnon in Performance' eds F. Macintosh, P. Michelakis, E. Hall & O. Taplin Hermathena. 183, 174-177
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2006. 'Antigone' in South Africa. In: DAVIDSON, J and MUECKE, F. & WILSON, P., eds., Greek Drama III: Essays in honour of Kevin Lee London, Institute of Classical Studies. 281-98
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2005. Aristophanes in South Africa South African Theatre Journal. 19, 254-276
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2005. 'Medea' praat Afrikaans Literator. 26(3), 45-64
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2003. The reception of Greek tragedy in the 'old' and the 'new' South Africa Akroterion: journal for the classics in South Africa. 48, 3-20
  • BETINE VAN ZYL SMIT, 2003. The Comic Tradition: Review of E. Segal, 'The Death of Comedy' Scholia: Studies in Classical Antiquity. 12, 134-140
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2003. A Christian Medea in Vandal Africa? Some aspects of the 'Medea' of Blossius Aemilius Dracontius.. In: BASSON, A. F. & DOMINIK, W. J., ed., Literature, art, history: studies on classical antiquity and tradition Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. 151-60
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2003. The reception of Greek tragedy in South Africa Eirene: Studia Graeca et Latina. 39, 234-53
  • BETINE VAN ZYL SMIT, 2003. Review of R. Mayer 'Seneca Phaedra' Acta Classica. 46, 125-127
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2002. Medea the feminist Acta Classica. 45, 101-122
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, B., 2001. Medea becomes politically correct Drama. 10, 261-84
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, BETINE, 1998. Derek Walcott's 'The Odyssey': The Gates of the Imagination never close Scholia: Studies in Classical Antiquity. 7, 3-16
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, BETINE, 1998. The story of Candaules, his wife and Gyges: Love and Power in ancient and modern literature. In: HOFMANN, H. and ZIMMERMAN, M., eds., Groningen Colloquia on the Novel 9. Groningen: Egbert Forsten. 205-228
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, BETINE, 1996. Gyges and Kandaules in ancient and modern literature Akroterion. 41, 5-21
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, BETINE, HERMANS, M. and OCTOBER, B., 1993. The communicative approach to the teaching of Latin Akroterion. 38, 74-80
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, BETINE, 1992. Medea and apartheid Akroterion. 37, 73-81
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, BETINE, 1987. Analysing blood and gore: towards an understanding of cruelty and horror in Senecan tragedy Akroterion. 32, 2-10
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, BETINE, 1983. Love and metamorphosis in Ovid Akroterion. 28, 34-36
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, BETINE, 1983. Dramatic treatment of the Medea myth: Corneille's debt to Euripides and Seneca Akroterion. 28, 131-139
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, BETINE, 1981. Drama as 'n weerspieeling van sy tyd: die tragedies van Seneca Akroterion. 26, 14-21
  • VAN ZYL SMIT, BETINE, 1977. Seneca's 'Hercules Furens' - A Myth Renewed Acta Classica. 20, 141-148

Department of Classics and Archaeology

University of Nottingham
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Nottingham, NG7 2RD

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