CRJ 1980 - LAW AND LITERATURE

credits: 3.0
Crosslisted/Same As: ENG 1980
Crosslisted/Same As (2): LAW 1980
CRJ 1980-ENG 1980-LAW 1980, explores the relationship between law and literature, both thematically and through a shared foundation in language, rhetoric, and interpretation. This course concentrates on possible relationships between law and literature. The major themes will be depiction of law and lawyers in popular and highbrow fiction; relationship between the interpretation of legal and literary texts; law in utopia and dystopia; crime and punishment; romantic conception of authorship in copyright, interpretation, and social theory. The course involves considerable reading, including works from some of the major academic debates in the “law and literature movement” and from cognate debates in legal interpretation. Objectives: A) Summarize and classify definitions of literary and legal terms; B) Compare the narratives of law and the narratives of literature through analyzing literary texts and legal texts, legal texts and literary texts, the literary turn in legal scholarship, and the regulation of literature by law; C) Evaluate the contribution of the field of law and literature to the intersection of humanities and social sciences. Method of Instruction: Lecture and class discussion. Method of Evaluation: Discussions, essays, final exams and final projects.