Prerequisite: None

Exam Type: None

We will read and discuss narrative theory, literary criticism and short works of fiction in the context of American legal practice and writing.

The intellectual history of law and humanities in the United States includes a chapter on the so-called law and literature movement. Its chronology: sprouting and growth in the 1970s; branches and applications in 1980s; slow-down and dissipation in the nineties. If we accept this neat proto-history (oblivious though it is to continuing work in Western Europe, for example), we concede that law has gotten all it can from the literary fields. In this reading group we will return to a forgotten scene within the legal academy–narrative and literary theory–with the aim of revisiting old paths and the possibility of finding new ways to think of law and the literary.

Note: This reading group will meet on the following dates: 2/20, 2/27, 3/6, 3/27, 4/3, 4/10