American Law, Literature and Culture 3301-KA2530-2ST
The course adopts a law and literature approach to explore the relationship between American law, cultural texts, and social contexts. It examines how literature and visual media engage with and reflect legal debates and high-profile court cases, as well as the social implications of legal rules and decisions, including laws regulating literary representation. The course also considers the impact of socio-historical circumstances on the shape of law. Following a line of inquiry that studies law as literature, the course will investigate the analogies between legal texts and literary works, focusing on narrative and rhetorical strategies in the courtroom, the concept of the chain novel, and the judicial opinion as a genre. Finally, the course will explore public trials as communal rituals and highlight artistic projects that bring together legal and literary forms.
List of topics covered:
The Law and Literature Movement
Legal Texts as Literary Texts
Law and the forging of identities
Judicial opinion as a genre
Legal fictions
How law regulates literature (copyright, defamation, censorship)
The metaphor of the chain novel and the law of precedent
The public trial and its role in American social life
Courtroom drama as a popular genre in film and television
Legal poetry and other forms of artistic inspired by law
Type of course
Mode
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
The outcomes below apply to Students entering the MA program in the academic year 2022/2023 and 2024/2025
Knowledge
Students will be able to:
K_W01 Identify and characterize on an advanced level the place and status of literary and culture studies within the humanities, with a particular focus on the “law and literature” approach
K_W02 Describe on an advanced level the current trends in literary and cultural studies research within English studies, with particular attention to the “law and literature” approach
K_W04 Characterize on an advanced level the principles of research design in literary and culture studies with special focus on the application of methods and tools in formulating research problems, especially those pertaining to the “law and literature” approach
K_W05 Identify the notions and principles pertinent to intellectual property and copyright
Abilities
Students are able to:
K_U01 Apply advanced terminology and notions pertinent to the discipline of literary studies and culture and religion studies, with a special focus on the “law and literature” approach
K_U02 Apply advanced research methodology within literary and culture studies and English studies, respecting ethical norms and copyright law
K_U03 Apply knowledge obtained during the course of studies to account for and solve a problem, thereby completing a research task related to the discipline literary studies and/or culture and religion studies
K_U04 Analyze linguistic, literary and cultural phenomena and draw generalizations on their basis in the context of societal, historical and economic factors on an advanced level
K_U05 Discern alternative methodological paradigms within a discipline
K_U06 Find information in various sources and critically assess its usefulness for research related to the topic of the MA project
Social competences
Students are ready to:
K_K02 Apply knowledge and skills obtained during the course of studies to undertake lifelong learning, as well as personal and professional development
K_K03 Take responsibility for performing one’s professional duties, with due respect for the work of others,obey and develop the ethical norms in professional and academic settings related to the disciplines included on the curriculum of English studies
K_K04 Assess critically one’s own knowledge and skills related to the studies
K_K06 Value cultural heritage and cultural diversity as well as individual opinions
The outcomes below apply to Students entering the MA program in the academic year 2025/2026
Knowledge
The graduate has in-depth familiarity with:
- K_W01 advanced terminology, theory and research methods related to the law-and study approach, corresponding to the state of the art in the disciplines of literary studies and culture and region studies, in accordance with their chosen specialization (and educational path)
- K_W04 concepts and principles concerning the protection of intellectual property and copyright
Abilities
The graduate is able to:
- K_U01 apply the advanced terminology, theories and research methods of literary studies and culture and religion studies, informed by the law-and-literature perspective, to solve complex and original research problems in accordance with
his/her chosen specialization (and educational path)
- K_U04 apply the concepts and principles of intellectual property protection and copyright law
Social competences
The graduate is ready to:
- K_K01 critically appraise their knowledge and content obtained from various sources
- K_K02 recognize the importance of knowledge in solving cognitive and practical problems; consult experts when required
Assessment criteria
Continuous assessment:
- preparation and class participation
- presentation
- collaborative work
- written assignments
Final test: an open book format
Attendance: max. 3 absences allowed
Bibliography
Primary sources
Literature:
Bell, Derrick. “The Racial Preference Licencing Act.” Faces at the Bottom of the Well. Basic Books, 1993.
Glaspell, Susan.Trifles, 1916.
Glaspell, Susan. “The Jury of Her Peers.” 1917.
Kingson, Maxine Hong. China Men. Alfred A. Knopf, 1980, excerpts.
Harbani, Ahuja, https://dicta.icaad.ngo/timeline/
Sherwood Anderson “Hands,” Winesburg, Ohio, 1919.
FILM
12 Angry Men, dir. Sidney Lumet, 1957
To Kill a Mockingbird, dir. Robert Mulligan, 1960
Inherit the Wind, dir. Stanley Kramer, 1960.
Depp v Heard, dir. Emma Cooper, Netflix, 2023.
Landmark Court cases:
Rhinelander v. Rhinelander (1925)
The Scopes ‘Monkey’ trial (1925)
The Rosenberg trial (1951)
OJ Simpson trial (1994)
Depp v. Heard (2022)
Other sources:
Indians of All Tribes, Alcatraz Proclamation, Nov. 1969, San Francisco, https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=ALCATRAZ_Proclamation
Supreme Court Case Library, National Constitution Center: https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/supreme-court-case-library
Cases of the U.S. Supreme Court: https://landmarkcases.org/
Landmark Supreme Court Cases, The Bill of Rights Institute https://billofrightsinstitute.org/landmark-cases
Secondary sources, excerpts from:
Dolin, Kieran. A Critical Introduction to Law and Literature, Cambridge UP, 2011.
Ferguson, Robert A. Practice Extended: Beyond Law and Literature, Columbia University Press, 2016.
Ferguson, Robert. A. Law and Letters in American Culture. Harvard University Press, 1984.
Ferguson, Robert A. The Trial in American Life. University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Holloway, Klara FC. Legal Fictions: Consulting Race, Composing Literature. Duke University Press, 2014.
Meyer, Michael J. ed. Literature and Law, Rodopi Press, 2004.
Posner, Richard A. Law and Literature. 3rd ed. Harvard University Press, 2009 (1998)
Thomas, Brook. Cross-examinations of Law and Literature. Cambridge UP, 1987.
Thomas, Brook. Civic Myths: A Law and Literature Approach to Citizenship. University of North Carolina Press, 2007.
Oltman, Gretchen, et al. Law Meets Literature : A Novel Approach for the English Classroom. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015.
Articles:
Clifford, James. “Identity in Mashpee.” The Predicament of Culture, Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature and Art. Harvard UP, 1988, pp. 277-346.
White, James Boyd. The Judicial Opinion and the Poem: Ways of Reading, Ways of Life. Michigan Law Review , Jun., 1984, Vol. 82, No. 7 (Jun., 1984), pp. 1669-1699.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: