UA Humanities Professor Is a Living Definition of Prolific
by Emily Litvack
(See the UANews story here)
Albrecht Classen is listing off subjects from the spines of books he wrote.
"Mental health, crime and punishment, chess, rural space, war and peace, sexual violence, friendship, laughter, urban space, sexuality, old age, women's power, childhood …"
His bright blue eyes dart across bookshelves, scanning fervently from top to bottom and left to right.
A small pile of books on the floor is still packaged in the clear, plastic wrapping his publisher shipped them in. The books went to print in 2014. The entire west-facing wall of his office — which feels more like a closet when packed tightly with hundreds of books — is plastered with decades worth of accolades. They don't all fit, so three or four paper awards are stuffed behind the corners of each framed award.
He's sitting in a chair, reading off book titles like a roll call, when he swivels back around. With his rubber flip-flops tapping on the carpet and arms extending outward, Classen declares: "See, everything connects to medieval studies in some way! Everything! Name anything — any subject — I can show you. I get really excited about this, I must admit."
In his 30 years in academia, Classen has published about 80 books, averaging two or three a year, which makes him perhaps the most prolific scholar on campus. He has been at the University of Arizona since 1987, and he is part of the College of Humanities' Department of German Studies as a University Distinguished Professor.
If you're wondering how the UA received world renown for medieval studies, Classen is your answer.
His latest work, a three-volume behemoth titled "Handbook of Medieval Culture: Fundamental Aspects and Conditions of the European Middle Ages," is 2,400 pages of comprehensive articles on concepts defining the medieval world. It covers everything from roads and bridges to saints and the senses, and he has read every page at least eight times. Reading carefully is an editor's job, he says.
For as long as he can remember, Classen has been interested in history and literature. By the time he began his undergraduate career at Philipp University of Marburg in Germany, he still wasn't sure which one he would pursue.
"I took a course in which it suddenly dawned on me that I could do both at the same time," Classen says. "I remember very clearly that was when I was suddenly catapulted into this field." The class was on the early 15th century Tyrolean poet Oswald von Wolenstein, whose works Classen wouldn't call his favorite.
"They're very erotic poems," he says with a laugh.
"I just want people to understand the world we're looking at is meaningful, and rich."
That sentiment is even reflected in his offbeat take on a party trick. Classen says he can date any building anywhere in Europe within 30 years just by looking at it. "Or maybe 50 years. But still. I'm very proud of that," he says.
Classen has been a visiting professor in Finland, Poland, Hungary, Germany and Italy, and he will be adding England to the list this month. When he takes students on study-abroad trips, he doesn't hire guides. And he generally doesn't license photographs for his books; he takes them himself.
"I never forget about my scholarship," he says. "But I thrive on working with the students."
Although he is currently on sabbatical, Classen recently developed a course titled "History of Toleration and Tolerance From Biblical Times to the 18th Century."
"Isn't that fantastic?" The question is rhetorical. "It really is! We need a class like that," he says.
Classen says he never could publish high-quality work so quickly without being "up on the latest."
"I use all the latest technology, and all kinds of communication media to reach out," he says. "I have direct contact with about 310 medievalists all over the world and have built an incredible network that keeps me connected."
By managing Web pages and email Listservs, Classen keeps in touch with experts across the globe. They contribute essays to his books. In the meantime, publishers continue to seek him out.
"I’m a cultural historian, but I can’t say that I like the Middle Ages better than our times," he says. "I never want to go backwards."