Theresia Susanne Kord, or T. S. Kord is a scholar of women's studies, literary studies and film studies, and the author of 11 books and 70 scholarly articles published in four languages.

Academic career

Kord has been a professor at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

since 2004, where she is the Chair of German. She was a

visiting fellow In academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of ...

at the

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

;

visiting scholar In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

at the

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its foun ...

; and a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

the University of Edinburgh. Kord was elected

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...

in 2021; Fellow of the British

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

in 2015; and Honorary Secretary and Council Member of the English branch of the

Goethe Society The (Goethe Society), not to be confused with the Goethe-Institut, is a literary and scientific organisation to explore the literary work of the German poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It was founded in Weimar, where he lived, in 18 ...

in 2008. Kord spent 16 years as an academic in the United States: with tenured positions at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

(Washington, D.C., 1993-2004), where she was George M. Roth Distinguished Professor; and at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

(Ohio, 1990–93). She was also visiting lecturer at Dartmouth College in the United States from 1988-1990. Kord earned an M.A. degree in English and American literature at Philipps Universität Marburg (Germany), and an M.A. and PhD in German literature (1990) at the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the Flagship university, flagship campus of the Univer ...

(United States).

Research Focus

Kord's first two books, written in German, focused on little-known female German authors of the 18th and 19th centuries. Her 1992 book, ''Ein Blick hinter die Kulissen'' (''A Glance Backstage'', 1992), was the first comprehensive historical study of eighteenth- and nineteenth century women playwrights and is credited with the rediscovery of many of these writers. The work won Swiss National Radio's Best Book of the Year Award in 1993. Her 1996 book, ''Sich einen Namen machen'' (''Making a Name for Herself''), delved into eighteenth- and nineteenth century women writers' strategies of using pseudonyms to conceal their gender. Kord's interests branched out in the early 2000s into Comparative Literature and Film Studies and she began to publish in English. She explored subjects ranging from 18th-century women peasant poets in Germany and the British Isles, real-life and fictional murderesses in 18th century Germany, gender in Hollywood films, time travel in science fiction films and philosophy in modern horror films to the rise of antisemitism in Germany and Austria before both World Wars.

Literary translations

Kord has translated the works of little-known female authors from German to English, including the naturalist playwright

Elsa Bernstein Elsa Bernstein (née Porges; pseudonym, Ernst Rosmer; 27 October 1866 – 2 July 1949) was an Austrian-German writer, dramatist, and literary figure. Life Elsa Porges was born in Vienna, a daughter of Heinrich Porges (a close friend of Richard ...

and Goethe associate, playwright and novelist

Charlotte von Stein Charlotte Albertine Ernestine von Stein (alternatively Charlotta Ernestina Bernadina von Stein; née von Schardt; 25 December 1742 – 6 January 1827) was a German lady-in-waiting at the court in Weimar and a close friend to both Friedrich Schille ...

. Her literary translations of dramatic plays from German to English include Elsa Bernstein's ''Dämmerung'' (1893), published as 'Twilight', and Bernstein's drama ''Maria Arndt'' (1908), performed at the

Steppenwolf Theatre Company Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theater company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry (American actor), Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Immaculate Conception grade school in Highland Park, Illinois and is now located in Chica ...

in Chicago, March 2002.

Poetry

In the 1990s, Kord published poetry in English and German in various journals, holding public readings at the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. In 1994, she was awarded the Robert L. Kahn Lyrik-Preis by the Society for Contemporary American Literature in German, for her poem ‘grammatik’ (published in Trans-Lit, 1994). The themes of Kord’s published poetry draw on her professional research on challenges faced by female authors, and on the poverty she observed in Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. neighborhoods.

Alternate author names

Kord sometimes employs a gender-concealing alias. Her books ''Little Horrors'' (2016) and ''Lovable Crooks'' (2018) were published under the gender-neutral author name T. S. Kord, leading some reviewers of both works to assume she was male.

Awards

Kord has won six awards for her writing, including the 2012 Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year (for her book with Elisabeth Krimmer, ''Contemporary Hollywood Masculinities'') and the Forum Prize, Best Article of the Year, for ''The Rule of Law and the Role of Literature: German Public Debates on Husband Killers and Human Rights'', Forum for Modern Language Studies, (January 2012).

Academic style

Kord's scholarship, which originated in the effort to make lost work by women accessible to a modern readership, employs a straightforward writing style that is often noted in reviews. This has on occasion put her at odds with the idea that "academic communication is fundamentally different from everyday vernacular discourse." Kord holds that serious scholarship is not compromised by approachable language: "I've never been a fan of the academic credo that if a book is comprehensible to more than three people, the author must have sold out."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kord, Susanne Academics of University College London Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford People associated with St John's College, Oxford People associated with the University of Edinburgh University of Cincinnati faculty Georgetown University faculty Dartmouth College faculty University of Marburg alumni University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni Date of birth missing (living people) Living people 1959 births Literary scholars Goethe scholars Women's studies academics Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the British Academy 21st-century non-fiction writers 20th-century British non-fiction writers English-language writers English-language poets German-language poets Nationality missing German–English translators Women encyclopedists