Ny bok om terrorism från Shakespeares dagar
2 December 2015
Jacques Cléments lönnmord på Henrik III av Frankrike, följt av hans egen död kort därpå. (Anonym, 1589)
Det fanns inget ord för terrorism på 1500- och 1600-talet, men ändå var våldsamma terrorattentat vanliga. I sin nya bok om terrorism inom historia och litteratur diskuterar Robert Appelbaum, professor i engelsk litteratur på Uppsala universitet, hur terrorister använde våld, vilka reaktioner det väckte, och hur man skrev om problemet i tidigmoderna Storbritannien och Frankrike.
På 1500- och 1600-talet saknades det ett ord för terrorism, vilket har fått många historieintresserade att tro att terrorism inte förekom på den tiden. Men många uppseendeväckande och våldsamma terrordåd begicks under den tidigmoderna perioden: lönnmordet på hovmarskalken David Rizzio i Holyrood Castle i Edinburgh 1566, Bartolomeinatten i Paris 1572, Krutkonspirationen i London 1605 och mordet på den franska kungen Henrik IV 1610.
Dessa och andra liknande incidenter involverade alla olagligt våld som brukades för att nå ut till allmänheten och uppnå politiska mål. De var helt klart uttryck för terrorism, konstaterar professor Appelbaum, och trots att det inte fanns något ord för dem spelade dessa incidenter en stor roll i det politiska och religiösa Västeuropa.
Flera berömda författare intresserade sig för terrorism som ämne, exempelvis Christopher Marlowe och William Shakespeare i England, George Buchanan i Skottland samt Pierre de Ronsard och Pierre Corneille i Frankrike. Shakespeare kan ha känt flera terrorister från Krutkonspirationen personligen. Åtminstone är det belagt att hans kollega, dramatikern Ben Jonson, gjorde det. För alla dessa författare utgjorde terrorismen, oavsett vad den kallades, en kreativ och etisk utmaning. Hur kan vi vara trygga i ett samhälle som när som helst kan explodera i en särskilt chockerande och förödande form av våld? Hur kan vi slå vakt om politiska ideal, oavsett vilka, när våld så ofta är ett medel för att uttrycka och försvara dem? Hur kan vi diskutera våld, när våldsamma människor försöker föra vår talan åt oss?
Professor Appelbaum har funnit en rad omständigheter som gjorde terrorism till ett hot mot det civila samhället på 1500- och 1600-talet, omständigheter som liknar de som råder idag. Den här banbrytande studien visar hur pass djupt rotad terrorismen är i den europeiska kulturens symbolik – inklusive motståndet mot den.
Om författaren
Robert Appelbaum doktorerade vid University of California, Berkeley, och har varit professor i engelsk litteratur vid Uppsala sedan 2011. Han är upphovsman till över trettio artiklar om litteratur och kultur, med fokus på den tidigmoderna perioden, hur våld representeras och konsumtion, inklusive mat. Han är också författare eller redaktör till fem tidigare böcker: Literature and Utopian Politics in Seventeenth-Century England (Cambridge UP 2002), Envisioning an English Empire: Jamestown and the Making of the Atlantic World (U of Pennsylvania Press 2005), Aguecheek’s Beef, Belch’s Hiccup, and Other Gastronomic Interjections: Literature, Culture and Food Among the Early Moderns (U of Chicago P 2006, winner of the 2007 Roland H. Bainton Prize), Dishing It Out: In Search of the Restaurant Experience (Reaktion, 2011) och Working the Aisles: A Life in Consumption (Zero 2014). Appelbaum har också bidragit med flera texter till Times Higher Education och The Baffler. Professor Appelbaum undervisade vid University of Cincinnati, University of San Diego, och Lancaster University i England innan han tillträdde sin post vid Uppsala universitet.
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