Author Description
From Law and Literature to Legality and Affect argues for the continued vitality of Law and Literature. Traditional methods of Law and Literature are combined with work in critical media studies, affect, and cultural narratology to address topics such as ethnonationalism, anti-immigration sentiment, and systemic racism in Germany and the United States. Taking stock of the diversification of the field at fifty years, this book understands Law and Literature as a political project. It has a precedent in inaugural Law and Literature texts such as Jacob Grimm's Von der Poesie im Recht (On the Poetry in Law) from 1815/16, which imagined an alternative legal order that was grounded in the unity of law, poetic language, and feeling. The political thrust of Law and Literature continues up into the present in the arts of BlackLivesMatter, which document and resist police violence. Law and Literature offers keys for understanding how legal identities are constructed, for analyzing how legal texts are constructed, and for comprehending how cultural-legal issues are mediated affectively. Using cultural, medial, affect theoretical, and narrative analyses of law, a revitalized Law and Literature offers a set of methods and theories with which to address the most pressing issues of the present.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This book investigates how the interdisciplinary field of Law and Literature can be revitalized to address contemporary political crises by integrating affect theory and cultural narratology. Greta Olson, a scholar in the field, draws upon historical precedents and modern cultural artifacts to argue that legal studies must account for the emotional and narrative dimensions of justice. By bridging the gap between legal texts and media studies, the author proposes a framework for analyzing systemic issues such as racism and ethnonationalism in Germany and the United States.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- A historical overview of Law and Literature spanning from Jacob Grimm to modern social movements.
- Methodologies integrating critical media studies, affect theory, and cultural narratology.
- Analysis of legal identity construction and the mediation of cultural-legal issues.
Scope Limits
- The analysis is primarily focused on the contexts of Germany and the United States.
- The text does not provide a comprehensive history of all legal theory, focusing instead on the specific intersection of law and narrative.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars in the field recognize this work as a significant effort to modernize the Law and Literature discipline by incorporating contemporary affect theory. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for an audience familiar with critical theory and legal studies.
Page Count:
241
Publication Date:
2022-01-01
Publisher:
OUP Oxford
ISBN-10:
0192670921
ISBN-13:
9780192670922
Literary Criticism
Professional Career & Trade
Law
Media Studies
Sociology