Intro

Hello! This is the class web page for Law & Literature. We’re keeping all the readings and in-class exercises here so that the class can be as collaborative and organized as it can be!

In this class, we will explore literature about the law. We’ll read widely, drawing from Roman rhetoric (Camus, Sophocles, and Catullus) to the contemporary, and look at how rhetoric shapes the dramatization of trials in an adversarial legal system and how facts and memory jive with a search for deeper truth and justice. Readings include: excerpts from Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” Kafka’s “The Trial,” stories by Deborah Eisenberg, Flannery O’Connor, Charles Yu, selections from In Cold Blood and Crime and Punishment. We’ll also watch some movie clips: Clarence Darrow’s “A Plea for Mercy,” Judgment at Nuremberg, Erin Brockovich, and My Cousin Vinny.

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Readings

Click on the Week to access readings, brief bio, and an introduction to the text we are encountering for the week.