Robert
Appelbaum
Appelbaum
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Robert Appelbaum was born in New York City (1952) into a working-
class Jewish family, and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois. He
received a B.A. in the humanities from the University of Chicago in 1975,
putting himself through school through scholarships, the kindness of
relatives, and a variety of odd jobs, including two summers as an oiler at
Republic Steel on the far south side of Chicago. Afterwards he travelled
though France, Italy and Greece, earning a degree in French Language and
Civilisation at the Sorbonne and experience as a dishwasher in Loutsa, a
beacntown near Athens. Then he began a career at the Berlitz Schools of
Languages in the American Midwest.
In 1978 Appelbaum threw caution to the wind, quit his job at Berlitz,
loaded up his Renault Le Car, and headed west to San Francisco. He
worked as an art dealer in San Francisco for a number of years, threw
caution to the wind again, started driving a luxury limousine for a living
and eventually entered graduate school, first at San Francisco State
University, from which he received an M.A., and then at the University of
California, Berkeley.
At Berkeley, Appelbaum studied with Stephen Greenblatt and other ‘New
Historicists’, and wrote a doctoral dissertation that would later develop
into his first book, Literature and Utopian Politics in Seventeenth-
Century England (Cambridge 2002). He taught at the University of
Cincinnati, the University of Alabama, Birmingham, and the University
of San Diego, and completed post-doctoral studies at the University of
Michigan, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Center for the
Humanities at Wesleyan University, studies which led to his next two
books, Envisioning an English Empire (Pennsylvania 2005) and
Aguecheeks’s Beef (Chicago 2006). In 2004 he moved to England, to
take up a lectureship in Renaissance Studies at Lancaster University. In
2011, out of pragmatism as well as spirit of 'what the hell', he took up a
Chair in English Literature at Uppsala University, Sweden
Appelbaum teaches and reads in a wide area of studies related to English
Literature, with a special strength in Shakespeare and the Seventeenth
Century. His scholarly and creative work these days, however, mostly
focuses on two relatively new fields: food and culture studies, and
terrorism studies, and expands well beyond the borders of Britain and
English literature.
In food and culture studies, in addition to Aguecheek's Beef, Appelbaum
has published a number of reviews and review essays in Times Higher
Education, Clio, and elsewhere, as well as an online essay 'Food Fuss in
London', and his new book, Dishing It Out: In Search of the Restaurant
Experience (Reaktion 2011). He has also completed an essay 'Judith
Dines Alone: From the Bible to Du Bartas', which looks at translation
theory as well as the symbolic meaning of keeping kosher, or not, in the
Judith legend. His forthcoming project, Working the Aisles, will look at
the culture of supermarkets in Europe and elsewhere.
In terrorism studies, Appelbaum has published on Milton and the
Gunpowder Plot and on 'Terrorism and the Novel, 1970-2001'. With
funding from the Leverhulme Trust, he is completing a manuscript
entitled ‘Terrorism Before the Letter: Britain and France, 1559-1642’.
With former colleagues from Lancaster University, he has formed an
international, interdisciplinary study group on the subject of phenomena
like terrorism, sovereignty, religious extremism, and social democracy, a
Group for the Study of Politics, Religion, Aesthetics and Texts (G-
SPRAT).
.
class Jewish family, and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois. He
received a B.A. in the humanities from the University of Chicago in 1975,
putting himself through school through scholarships, the kindness of
relatives, and a variety of odd jobs, including two summers as an oiler at
Republic Steel on the far south side of Chicago. Afterwards he travelled
though France, Italy and Greece, earning a degree in French Language and
Civilisation at the Sorbonne and experience as a dishwasher in Loutsa, a
beacntown near Athens. Then he began a career at the Berlitz Schools of
Languages in the American Midwest.
In 1978 Appelbaum threw caution to the wind, quit his job at Berlitz,
loaded up his Renault Le Car, and headed west to San Francisco. He
worked as an art dealer in San Francisco for a number of years, threw
caution to the wind again, started driving a luxury limousine for a living
and eventually entered graduate school, first at San Francisco State
University, from which he received an M.A., and then at the University of
California, Berkeley.
At Berkeley, Appelbaum studied with Stephen Greenblatt and other ‘New
Historicists’, and wrote a doctoral dissertation that would later develop
into his first book, Literature and Utopian Politics in Seventeenth-
Century England (Cambridge 2002). He taught at the University of
Cincinnati, the University of Alabama, Birmingham, and the University
of San Diego, and completed post-doctoral studies at the University of
Michigan, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Center for the
Humanities at Wesleyan University, studies which led to his next two
books, Envisioning an English Empire (Pennsylvania 2005) and
Aguecheeks’s Beef (Chicago 2006). In 2004 he moved to England, to
take up a lectureship in Renaissance Studies at Lancaster University. In
2011, out of pragmatism as well as spirit of 'what the hell', he took up a
Chair in English Literature at Uppsala University, Sweden
Appelbaum teaches and reads in a wide area of studies related to English
Literature, with a special strength in Shakespeare and the Seventeenth
Century. His scholarly and creative work these days, however, mostly
focuses on two relatively new fields: food and culture studies, and
terrorism studies, and expands well beyond the borders of Britain and
English literature.
In food and culture studies, in addition to Aguecheek's Beef, Appelbaum
has published a number of reviews and review essays in Times Higher
Education, Clio, and elsewhere, as well as an online essay 'Food Fuss in
London', and his new book, Dishing It Out: In Search of the Restaurant
Experience (Reaktion 2011). He has also completed an essay 'Judith
Dines Alone: From the Bible to Du Bartas', which looks at translation
theory as well as the symbolic meaning of keeping kosher, or not, in the
Judith legend. His forthcoming project, Working the Aisles, will look at
the culture of supermarkets in Europe and elsewhere.
In terrorism studies, Appelbaum has published on Milton and the
Gunpowder Plot and on 'Terrorism and the Novel, 1970-2001'. With
funding from the Leverhulme Trust, he is completing a manuscript
entitled ‘Terrorism Before the Letter: Britain and France, 1559-1642’.
With former colleagues from Lancaster University, he has formed an
international, interdisciplinary study group on the subject of phenomena
like terrorism, sovereignty, religious extremism, and social democracy, a
Group for the Study of Politics, Religion, Aesthetics and Texts (G-
SPRAT).
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