Published papers

This article assesses the extent to which Sweden’s King Charles XII (1682–1718) can be considered to have been sadistic, the label of sadism having recently been attached to him by the distinguished scholar Tim Blanning in his much reviewed and widely acclaimed book Augustus the Strong: A Study in Artistic Greatness and Political Fiasco (London: 2024). The two instances that Blanning cites in support of his accusation of sadism directed at Charles are examined and, on close inspection, it is found that neither substantiates such a characterization. The article ends by observing how Blanning’s portrayal of Charles as sadistic was adopted and amplified by several historians writing reviews of Blanning’s book in the British press.

The subject of the piece is basically the appearance of references to Lewis Carroll’s works and characters in the political discourse of Mexican guerrilla leader and global rebel icon, Subcommander Marcos. The article makes four main points: (1) Lewis Carroll turns up in what is a most unexpected place – in the discourse of a left-wing guerrilla writing at the end of the twentieth century from the jungles of south-east Mexico; (2) Marcos makes not one, but several (a dozen in fact!) references to Lewis Carrol’s 'Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking-Glass', or to characters from them; (3) Marcos’ acquaintance with these works is not casual but in fact first-hand and profound since he not only refers to, but also quotes from, these two works, and that he does so both from the Spanish translation and the original English; and (4) Marcos is not only aware of Carroll’s real name, but also his work 'Euclid and His Modern Rivals'.

The paper focuses on Mexican guerrilla leader and global rebel icon Subcommander Marcos, and in particular on his acquaintance with and affinity for detective fiction. More specifically, it explores his exposure to the genre and the influence it had upon him; his references to it in his communiqués; and his relationship with the detective novelists Manuel Vázquez Montalbán from Spain and Paco Ignacio Taibo II from Mexico. This study examines numerous communiqués and oral presentations by the Subcommander that mention Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories as well as Marcos and Taibo II’s co-authored highly-political crime novel, The Uncomfortable Dead. This novel, which represents Marcos’s longest piece of unified prose-writing and features his literary creation, the indigenous detective Elías Contreras, exhibits certain shared preoccupations on the part of Marcos, Montalbán and Taibo: namely, the detrimental impact of neoliberal globalisation, and the importance of historical memory in combatting it. Finally, the paper explores the factors that led Marcos to employ a crime novel as a major vehicle for conveying his socially inclusive, pro-indigenous, pro-ecology, pro-democracy, pro-female empowerment, pro-LGBTQ, anti-capitalist and anti-neoliberal globalisation political philosophy.