Born in New York City and educated at the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley, Robert Appelbaum is Professor Emeritus of English Literature at Uppsala University, Sweden.

• A Note on the Texts; Acknowledgments; Preface; Chapter One Overture: The Show of Violence; Chapter Two The Moral Economy of Violence in the Renaissance Novella Collection: Straparola, Bandello and Marguerite de Navarre; Chapter Three Pacifism, Erasmus and More; Chapter Four Violence as Labor: The Heroic Narrative; Chapter Five “Tragedy Shows Us What We Must Flee From”; Afterword; Select Bibliography; Index.

“In Robert Appelbaum’s Renaissance Discovery of Violence, the ‘discovery’ in question takes multiple forms: as a re-invention of violence through new ritual shapes and physical instruments, but also as a representation of violence through art and language, and an uncovering of the moral economies that underlie its use. The resulting study, both wide-ranging and incisively detailed, revels in the nuance and complexity of its subject-matter.” — Bruce Boehrer, Bertram H. Davis Professor, English Department, Florida State University, US