Hardly had Leopold von Ranke died in May 1886 when one of his former assistants, Theodor Wiedemann, received a letter from a fellow historian with the following request: “Please give me a... Show moreHardly had Leopold von Ranke died in May 1886 when one of his former assistants, Theodor Wiedemann, received a letter from a fellow historian with the following request: “Please give me a description of the method of work. Did v. Ranke dictate all his work? How many hours a day could he work?” Wiedemann’s reply came in the form of a long series of articles, which described Ranke’s work habits in fascinating detail. Interestingly, Wiedemann was not alone in penning such a memoir. Other colleagues and acquaintances of Ranke also published detailed descriptions of his legendary work ethic. Drawing on this late nineteenth-century material, this chapter tries to explain why Ranke’s contemporaries were so impressed by the productivity and appetite for work that Germany’s most famous historian had displayed, even in his old age. How widely shared were the virtues of work attributed to Ranke? Did his admirers interpret his demanding work rhythm as a model for imitation or, alternatively, as an achievement unattainable by ordinary mortals? Also, did Ranke’s motto, labor ipse voluptas (“the joy lies in the work itself”), resonate among German scholars in the 1880s because it captured their own understanding of work? Show less
