Prof. Albrecht Classen published a new book, War and Peace: Critical Issues in European Societies and Literature, 800-1800, an edited volume, together with Nadia Margolis (Berlin and New York: De Gruyter). This volume is available in print and in e-book form.
Because man is a deeply aggressive and greedy creature, wars have been waged throughout times. Nevertheless, we can identify many voices in medieval literature, theology, philosophy, and in chronicle literature that questioned the validity and effectiveness of war, while many others argued for the traditional knightly ideals or called for crusades against the infidels. Those heroes who defend a people against an evil threat enjoyed profound respect, but there were also those figures calling for peace and the end of all fighting. As this volume demonstrates, war and peace have fundamentally determined medieval and early modern culture.
Dr. Classen has a broad range of research interests covering the history of German and European literature and culture from about 800 to 1800. Other recent publications include Urban Space in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times (2009), Laughter in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times: Epistemology of a Fundamental Human Behavior, Its Meaning, and Consequences (2010), Friendship in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age (2011), and Sex im Mittelalter (2011). Although a passionate philologist and medievalist, he is also fascinated by modern and medieval literary theory, and applies comparative interpretations. He is an active contributor to the literary journal Trans-Lit2, for which he also serves as the book review editor. Since 2010 he is the sole editor of the scholarly journal Mediaevistik. He has also published two volumes of his own poetry (2002 and 2004), and two CD-ROMs with readings of Middle High German and Early Modern German poetry (Scholar's Choice).