In Memoriam: Frederic Clark, classicist who investigated how we divide up time itself  

Frederic Clark, associate professor of classics and English at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, whose research examined how we divide up the flow of human history, died June 8. He was 41. 

Clark’s second book, the forthcoming Dividing Time: The Invention of Historical Periods in Early Modern Europe, focuses on the origins of the “tripartite distinction,” which divided history into three periods: antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modernity. First advanced in the late Renaissance, it was one of the earliest — and most influential — attempts at organizing history into distinct periods.

A project as vast as history’s entire span was a good fit for Clark, who seemed to possess a near-mystical affinity for books and knowledge.

While conducting research with colleagues into the reading habits of the Puritan Winthrop family, the group visited the Allegany College archives. The librarian was out ill, unfortunately, but that didn’t deter Clark, who with the group navigated the large collection unaided. 

“He could look at the wall of leatherbound books and then pick one up and say: ‘I think there’s something interesting in here,’ and he was right,” says Anthony Grafton, Henry Putnam University Professor of History, Emeritus at Princeton University. “Fred was like a ‘book dowser.’ He just had this instinct.”

Scholarly start

Clark was born in Berkeley, Calif., in 1985. His father, Frederic H. Clark, was a hedge fund manager and his mother, Margaret Nolan Clark, a high school English teacher.

Their son was an enthusiastic and curious learner from an early age. The whole family enjoyed browsing bookstores together. While visiting one store, young Clark selected The Federalist Papers. After completing it, he approached his father to suggest that he now read The Anti-Federalist Papers to get a more complete understanding. He was 10 years old.

The family later moved to San Diego, where Clark graduated from The Bishop School as valedictorian. His heart had been set on attending Harvard, so much so that when his Harvard acceptance letter arrived, he immediately gave up his place at Princeton. Since many universities often don’t accept more than one student from each school, he wanted to free up the spot for his classmate who had also applied.

Clark finished a bachelor’s degree in history at Harvard in 2008 and then a master of philosophy degree in medieval history at the University of Cambridge in 2009.

While at Cambridge, he met with Grafton, who invited him to an early morning coffee to discuss graduate school options. Grafton later learned that Clark was famously a late riser and had been barely conscious during their meeting. Nevertheless, Clark made a “great impression immediately,” says Grafton, who became Clark’s PhD advisor at Princeton, where Clark set to work on a thesis that investigated “periodization,” how history is divided into different eras. The studies would later form the basis of Dividing Time. 

Clark also worked as a teacher’s assistant, guiding undergraduates in reading Virgil and Ovid, instructing them in Latin and teaching the history of forgery. Graduate students sometimes chafe at the duties of TA work, says Grafton, but Clark was “as happy a teacher I’ve ever known.”

Princeton also gave Clark a chance to flex his wordplay talents. He enjoyed “pun-offs” with colleagues and attended New York City’s annual Punderdome competition.

The history of history

After completing his PhD in history in 2014, Clark conducted postdoctoral work at Stanford, New York and Rice universities. In 2018, Clark joined USC Dornsife as an assistant professor of classics, receiving tenure in 2023.

In 2020, Clark published his first book, The First Pagan Historian: The Fortunes of a Fraud from Antiquity to the Enlightenment, which examines the History of the Destruction of Troy, a purportedly eyewitness account of the Trojan War written by the pagan priest Dares Phrygius. The account was greatly influential among scholars and writers from the late Roman era through the Renaissance. However, it was later revealed to be a fifth- or sixth-century fabrication.

Clark’s book was an offshoot of his broader research interest into how we divide up history. Fraudulent texts can help historians better understand what defines eras, since frauds are often detected by the presence of something that feels “out of place” for its supposed era. At his passing, Clark was working on a third book, probing the origins of “context.”

“Frederic’s knowledge of early modern historical scholarship was deep and immense. He could jump between countries and languages and across centuries in tracing different complex questions about evidence and chronology,” says Anton Matytsin, associate professor, early modern Europe, at the University of Florida, who met Clark during his postdoctoral work at Stanford.

His impressive book publishing pace did not diminish his steadfast commitment to students, colleagues, family and friends, of whom he had many all over the world.

If an event related to the premodern world was taking place on campus, he could be counted on to attend, and to share a meal with the guests. Although himself a fairly new arrival to USC, he made sure to help new hires get oriented and comfortable in the department.

Thoughtful selflessness was something his colleagues returned to again and again when remembering Clark. “There was an extraordinary generosity to Fred in every aspect of his life,” says Daniel Richter, chair of the Department of Classics and associate professor of classics. “He had this gift of enthusiasm for the ideas of others, which was part of his generosity.” 

When he gave presentations or lectures to students, he stayed after to discuss their interest in studying the classics and looking over books and manuscripts.

Clark’s energy was particularly evident in the classroom, says Lucas Herchenroeder, associate professor (teaching) of classics at USC Dornsife. “He had an infectious enthusiasm for the material, and an ability to convey excitement in ways that really touched students,” Herchenroeder says. “The mundane details of history, the strange and unusual, even the books themselves through which the past is transmitted to us — he had extraordinary talents for bringing all of this to life in the classroom.”

Although a serious and accomplished scholar, Clark possessed a strong sense of humor and a deep humility.  

“He was a natural storyteller and was deeply engaged with the absurdity and humor of the human condition. All of it — his jokes, his curiosity, his intellect — sprung from a place of generosity and sincerity. He was magic; he is irreplaceable,” says Jay Rubenstein, professor of history at USC Dornsife. 

Clark is survived by his parents, sister Catherine, brother-in-law Adriano Giombini, niece Eva Giombini, aunt and uncle Lupe and Patrick Vivier, and cousin Hogan (Nate Robitaille).