ENGL471

038708

This course is about the law in literary texts as these reflect the texts of actual laws. It thus asks students to analyze literary texts involving issues of law within the context of legal statutes and decisions considered as texts, as themselves subject to literary analysis. It offers, in fact, a two part approach to the growing field of Law and Literature. Part One considers how we might apply the critical language of literary study -- such as figuration, interpretation, rhetoric, and culture -- to the legal language of judicial decisions and legislative acts, as well as to the traditional legal canons of statutory construction. Part Two then applies the reading strategies of both jurisdictions -- both the literary and the legal -- to culturally significant works of literature that offer legal themes, including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Trial, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Song of Solomon.

GRD - Regular Grades A, B, C, D, E

Undergraduate

WE - WEC (Writing Emphasis Course)