I am a scholar and teacher of the Middle Ages and the early modern age, with more than 104 published books and close to 700 articles. I am the editor of Mediaevistik and Humanities Open Access. I am a University Distinguished Professor at the University of Arizona
M odern society seems to be deeply influenced by the unfortunate experience of stress, that is, b... more M odern society seems to be deeply influenced by the unfortunate experience of stress, that is, being subject to personal conflicts, dilemmas, paradoxes, excessive amounts of work, pressure, and the like. Consequently, there are countless advice books on how to combat stress, urging us to manage our time better, to stay focused in our daily activities, to separate clearly the private from the public part of our lives, to pursue the famous "Serenity Prayer" originally formulated by the German-American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), to meditate on a regular basis on
Die akademische Lehre von mittelalterlicher Literatur, Philosophie und Kunst etc. ist nicht unang... more Die akademische Lehre von mittelalterlicher Literatur, Philosophie und Kunst etc. ist nicht unangefochten und muss sich erheblich darum bemühen, eigene Legitimationsstrategien zu entwickeln. Dieser Aufsatz reflektiert zunächst über die gegenwärtige schwierige Situation an der Universität und dann im Gegensatz dazu in der Öffentlichkeit, wo ja das Mittelalter geradezu boomt. Darauf verfolge ich pädagogische Perspektiven, die sehr praktisch gestaltet gerade auf der Grundstufe des Studiums neue Interessen und Motivationen zu wecken versprechen. Mittelalterliche Literatur an sich stellt ja gar nicht das entscheidende Problem dar, sondern Literatur schlechthin, also die Gefähr
ournal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, 2022
Many medieval literary texts survived, despite common assumptions as to the contrary, the Gutenbe... more Many medieval literary texts survived, despite common assumptions as to the contrary, the Gutenberg Galaxy and continued to appeal to early modern audiences, especially within the genre of short prose stories. Often, however, only a careful comparative analysis makes it possible to detect the connections between a medieval tale and its inclusion in an early modern literary context. The case of Gian Francesco Straparola's Piacevolinotti (1550 and 1553) serves here ideally to track down a number of significant medieval sources, some of which had allegedly been entirely lost already in the thirteenth century. Disregarding his obvious use of Boccaccio's Decameron, it is often not easy to determine whether Straparola drew from French or German sources (romances, fabliaux, maeren, etc.). Nevertheless, as this study brings to light, but we can clearly identify a number of his tales where a medieval source emerges in the background. This study demonstrates how much storytellers such as Straparola still had good access to the vast treasure house of medieval romances and verse narratives and used them freely for their own purposes.
As much as money has always seemed to rule world, in reality many other criteria have really dete... more As much as money has always seemed to rule world, in reality many other criteria have really determined human life providing meaning, guidance, and relevance, such as the quest for happiness. Happiness can be expressed in many different ways and finds expression in a myriad of ways, including through literature. Hence, we need to differentiate between spiritual and material happiness, and thus can establish significant concepts about the various layers of the meaning of life. Only a Humanities-based study program can offer relevant perspectives, as we need the teachings from the past in order to cope with the issues of today and tomorrow. This paper draws on a selection of major literary and philosophical contributions from late antiquity to the fifteenth century to illustrate this most important insight, which redirects our attention to the Humanities as one of the most central study areas in the academy today. As evanescent as the quest for happiness might be, ultimately there pro...
Journal of Research in Philosophy and History, 2022
As much as money has always seemed to rule world, in reality many other criteria have really dete... more As much as money has always seemed to rule world, in reality many other criteria have really determined human life providing meaning, guidance, and relevance, such as the quest for happiness. Happiness can be expressed in many different ways and finds expression in a myriad of ways, including through literature. Hence, we need to differentiate between spiritual and material happiness, and thus can establish significant concepts about the various layers of the meaning of life. Only a Humanities-based study program can offer relevant perspectives, as we need the teachings from the past in order to cope with the issues of today and tomorrow. This paper draws on a selection of major literary and philosophical contributions from late antiquity to the fifteenth century to illustrate this most important insight, which redirects our attention to the Humanities as one of the most central study areas in the academy today. As evanescent as the quest for happiness might be, ultimately there proves to be no other more important topic in all of human existence.
BOHR International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
Throughout time, love, sexuality, and marriage have mattered centrally in all of literature, and ... more Throughout time, love, sexuality, and marriage have mattered centrally in all of literature, and hence all of human existence. Although there seems to be an endless number of relevant guidebooks, counselors, and advisors who promise to help us navigate through the world of love, the real learning process in that regard begins within ourselves in direct confrontation with society or other individuals. Love is always dialogic. Late medieval (German) literature proves to be one of the most useful strategies in dealing with those powerful issues, perhaps surprisingly and certainly refreshingly. As this article illustrates through a close analysis of a sample of texts by three meaningful but also unusual poets, the study of those poems makes available a significant body of messages about human nature, and thus about virtues and vices. Love can hardly be imagined without some pain, struggle, and a sense of utopia, and these German poets, in close parallel with their European contemporarie...
Throughout time, alcohol has been used by people all over the world, and its negative effects hav... more Throughout time, alcohol has been used by people all over the world, and its negative effects have commonly been the subject of many comments by critics and poets. Medieval literature is actually filled with references to wine and its excessive consumption. This paper examines the evidence we can find primarily in medieval German literature, but it also includes parallel remarks by didactic and religious writers, along with those by some English, French, and Italian contemporaries who addressed the same issue. While the criticism voiced is loud and clear, the literary treatment of drinking of wine ‒ rarely of beer, mead, or ale ‒ allows us to gain a deeper insight into the basic everyday-life conditions at that time. Reports about excess only reflect the common consumption of wine especially among aristocrats.
Taking Stock of German Studies in the United States
This paper provides arguments for the study of medieval German literature (or any medieval litera... more This paper provides arguments for the study of medieval German literature (or any medieval literature) both today and in the future.
This study examines the discussion of friendship in light of death as prevalent in twelfth-centur... more This study examines the discussion of friendship in light of death as prevalent in twelfth-century theology, philosophy, and literature.
Current Research Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2021
This study reexamines the meaning of education in global terms as the foundation of all open and ... more This study reexamines the meaning of education in global terms as the foundation of all open and democratic societies both in the past and the present. Literary studies create useful mirrors taking the learner into the past where parallel cases of human problems and conflicts existed. The learning experience then allows the individual to carry the new insights back to the own presence and to apply them to current situations. This process can and must be applied particularly to the principle of tolerance, one of the highest ideals in all of education. In order to illustrate this concept, this study examines Boccaccio’s Decameron and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Nathan the Wise as model cases for global education leading to a more peaceful and mutually respectful world. With all due respect for religion, hating and murdering other people for religious reasons betrays the very principles of that religion whatever denomination or creed it might be. Ignorance and lack of education make it ...
M odern society seems to be deeply influenced by the unfortunate experience of stress, that is, b... more M odern society seems to be deeply influenced by the unfortunate experience of stress, that is, being subject to personal conflicts, dilemmas, paradoxes, excessive amounts of work, pressure, and the like. Consequently, there are countless advice books on how to combat stress, urging us to manage our time better, to stay focused in our daily activities, to separate clearly the private from the public part of our lives, to pursue the famous "Serenity Prayer" originally formulated by the German-American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), to meditate on a regular basis on
Die akademische Lehre von mittelalterlicher Literatur, Philosophie und Kunst etc. ist nicht unang... more Die akademische Lehre von mittelalterlicher Literatur, Philosophie und Kunst etc. ist nicht unangefochten und muss sich erheblich darum bemühen, eigene Legitimationsstrategien zu entwickeln. Dieser Aufsatz reflektiert zunächst über die gegenwärtige schwierige Situation an der Universität und dann im Gegensatz dazu in der Öffentlichkeit, wo ja das Mittelalter geradezu boomt. Darauf verfolge ich pädagogische Perspektiven, die sehr praktisch gestaltet gerade auf der Grundstufe des Studiums neue Interessen und Motivationen zu wecken versprechen. Mittelalterliche Literatur an sich stellt ja gar nicht das entscheidende Problem dar, sondern Literatur schlechthin, also die Gefähr
ournal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, 2022
Many medieval literary texts survived, despite common assumptions as to the contrary, the Gutenbe... more Many medieval literary texts survived, despite common assumptions as to the contrary, the Gutenberg Galaxy and continued to appeal to early modern audiences, especially within the genre of short prose stories. Often, however, only a careful comparative analysis makes it possible to detect the connections between a medieval tale and its inclusion in an early modern literary context. The case of Gian Francesco Straparola's Piacevolinotti (1550 and 1553) serves here ideally to track down a number of significant medieval sources, some of which had allegedly been entirely lost already in the thirteenth century. Disregarding his obvious use of Boccaccio's Decameron, it is often not easy to determine whether Straparola drew from French or German sources (romances, fabliaux, maeren, etc.). Nevertheless, as this study brings to light, but we can clearly identify a number of his tales where a medieval source emerges in the background. This study demonstrates how much storytellers such as Straparola still had good access to the vast treasure house of medieval romances and verse narratives and used them freely for their own purposes.
As much as money has always seemed to rule world, in reality many other criteria have really dete... more As much as money has always seemed to rule world, in reality many other criteria have really determined human life providing meaning, guidance, and relevance, such as the quest for happiness. Happiness can be expressed in many different ways and finds expression in a myriad of ways, including through literature. Hence, we need to differentiate between spiritual and material happiness, and thus can establish significant concepts about the various layers of the meaning of life. Only a Humanities-based study program can offer relevant perspectives, as we need the teachings from the past in order to cope with the issues of today and tomorrow. This paper draws on a selection of major literary and philosophical contributions from late antiquity to the fifteenth century to illustrate this most important insight, which redirects our attention to the Humanities as one of the most central study areas in the academy today. As evanescent as the quest for happiness might be, ultimately there pro...
Journal of Research in Philosophy and History, 2022
As much as money has always seemed to rule world, in reality many other criteria have really dete... more As much as money has always seemed to rule world, in reality many other criteria have really determined human life providing meaning, guidance, and relevance, such as the quest for happiness. Happiness can be expressed in many different ways and finds expression in a myriad of ways, including through literature. Hence, we need to differentiate between spiritual and material happiness, and thus can establish significant concepts about the various layers of the meaning of life. Only a Humanities-based study program can offer relevant perspectives, as we need the teachings from the past in order to cope with the issues of today and tomorrow. This paper draws on a selection of major literary and philosophical contributions from late antiquity to the fifteenth century to illustrate this most important insight, which redirects our attention to the Humanities as one of the most central study areas in the academy today. As evanescent as the quest for happiness might be, ultimately there proves to be no other more important topic in all of human existence.
BOHR International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
Throughout time, love, sexuality, and marriage have mattered centrally in all of literature, and ... more Throughout time, love, sexuality, and marriage have mattered centrally in all of literature, and hence all of human existence. Although there seems to be an endless number of relevant guidebooks, counselors, and advisors who promise to help us navigate through the world of love, the real learning process in that regard begins within ourselves in direct confrontation with society or other individuals. Love is always dialogic. Late medieval (German) literature proves to be one of the most useful strategies in dealing with those powerful issues, perhaps surprisingly and certainly refreshingly. As this article illustrates through a close analysis of a sample of texts by three meaningful but also unusual poets, the study of those poems makes available a significant body of messages about human nature, and thus about virtues and vices. Love can hardly be imagined without some pain, struggle, and a sense of utopia, and these German poets, in close parallel with their European contemporarie...
Throughout time, alcohol has been used by people all over the world, and its negative effects hav... more Throughout time, alcohol has been used by people all over the world, and its negative effects have commonly been the subject of many comments by critics and poets. Medieval literature is actually filled with references to wine and its excessive consumption. This paper examines the evidence we can find primarily in medieval German literature, but it also includes parallel remarks by didactic and religious writers, along with those by some English, French, and Italian contemporaries who addressed the same issue. While the criticism voiced is loud and clear, the literary treatment of drinking of wine ‒ rarely of beer, mead, or ale ‒ allows us to gain a deeper insight into the basic everyday-life conditions at that time. Reports about excess only reflect the common consumption of wine especially among aristocrats.
Taking Stock of German Studies in the United States
This paper provides arguments for the study of medieval German literature (or any medieval litera... more This paper provides arguments for the study of medieval German literature (or any medieval literature) both today and in the future.
This study examines the discussion of friendship in light of death as prevalent in twelfth-centur... more This study examines the discussion of friendship in light of death as prevalent in twelfth-century theology, philosophy, and literature.
Current Research Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2021
This study reexamines the meaning of education in global terms as the foundation of all open and ... more This study reexamines the meaning of education in global terms as the foundation of all open and democratic societies both in the past and the present. Literary studies create useful mirrors taking the learner into the past where parallel cases of human problems and conflicts existed. The learning experience then allows the individual to carry the new insights back to the own presence and to apply them to current situations. This process can and must be applied particularly to the principle of tolerance, one of the highest ideals in all of education. In order to illustrate this concept, this study examines Boccaccio’s Decameron and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Nathan the Wise as model cases for global education leading to a more peaceful and mutually respectful world. With all due respect for religion, hating and murdering other people for religious reasons betrays the very principles of that religion whatever denomination or creed it might be. Ignorance and lack of education make it ...
20th International Symposium, Medieval and Early Modern Studies: Globalism and Meeting Foreign Wo... more 20th International Symposium, Medieval and Early Modern Studies: Globalism and Meeting Foreign Worlds in the Pre-Modern Era, 2022
The 2022 symposium at the University of Arizona will focus on Globalism and Meeting the Foreign World in the Pre-Modern World. This is a broad topic, but it suggests many new reflections. We would become myopic once again if we demanded of all pre-modern scholars suddenly to think about connections between Africa and Europe or Asia when they did not exist. Global can mean many things. I just read a fascinating vol. on falconry, primarily in the Middle East, and learned that the Mamluks imported heavily gyrfalcons from Iceland and Sweden to Egypt. That's global! This symposium will simply widen our perspectives beyond traditional medieval and early modern Christian Europe and explore the wider connectivity across languages, religion, culture, and economics. Globalism is here to be understood as a broader perspective toward the foreign world, but not in the traditional approach pertaining to medieval and early modern travel literature. Instead, the question will focus on the encounter of the foreign through literary, artistic, economic, religious, or musical contacts or studies. There are firm plans to publish a volume based on the presentations, with the papers fully developed and deeply researched, with Walter De Gruyter. [By Albrecht Classen]
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Papers by Albrecht Classen
The 2022 symposium at the University of Arizona will focus on Globalism and Meeting the Foreign World in the Pre-Modern World. This is a broad topic, but it suggests many new reflections. We would become myopic once again if we demanded of all pre-modern scholars suddenly to think about connections between Africa and Europe or Asia when they did not exist. Global can mean many things. I just read a fascinating vol. on falconry, primarily in the Middle East, and learned that the Mamluks imported heavily gyrfalcons from Iceland and Sweden to Egypt. That's global! This symposium will simply widen our perspectives beyond traditional medieval and early modern Christian Europe and explore the wider connectivity across languages, religion, culture, and economics. Globalism is here to be understood as a broader perspective toward the foreign world, but not in the traditional approach pertaining to medieval and early modern travel literature. Instead, the question will focus on the encounter of the foreign through literary, artistic, economic, religious, or musical contacts or studies. There are firm plans to publish a volume based on the presentations, with the papers fully developed and deeply researched, with Walter De Gruyter. [By Albrecht Classen]