COMP 401
Senior Seminar: Literature and the Law Fall 2009
Division I
Cross-listed LGST 399 / ENGL 449
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

In this seminar, we will examine the complex relationship between literature and the law from three different perspectives. First, we will look at the law as a genre of literature by reading several works of legal writing, such as the Code of Hammurabi, sections of the Old Testament, and the Constitution of the United States. Second, we will read literary and visual works that rely on legal practice, forensic analysis, or trial procedure to structure their narrative, including Aeschylus’ Oresteia, Kafka’s The Trial, Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and Court TV. Third, we will integrate our study of these two by reading theory by Freud, Derrida, Foucault, and others, on the cultural significance of the law, as well as the co-evolution of legal consciousness and literary craft. All readings in English.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 15
Expected: 10
Class#: 1321
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: evaluation will be based on thoughtful and timely preparation for class, several shorter writing assignments, and a final research project
Prerequisites: a 300-level literature course or permission of instructor
Enrollment Preferences: Comparative Literature and Literary Studies majors
Unit Notes: meets Criticism requirement in English major only if registration is under ENGL
Distributions: Division I
Notes: meets Division 1 requirement if registration is under COMP or ENGL; meets Division 2 requirement if registration is under LGST
This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
COMP 401 Division I LGST 399 Division II ENGL 449 Division I

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