LAW 6046 - Law and Literature

Institution:

Villanova University

Subject:

Description:

Description: This course will introduce students to the varying approaches taken to law and literature scholarship in North America and elsewhere, with special emphases on the uses of law and literature study for the ethical development of legal professionals, on the applications of interdisciplinary scholarship in law and literature in law "reform", and on the potential effects of law and literature studies on legal practice. It will equip students with advanced skills of analysis of legal texts informed by the theory and practice of critical discourse analysis and literary critical techniques; give students a grounding in student-level scholarly writing; and assist them in producing a high quality seminar paper. The course will begin with a unit on various approaches to law and literature methodology. It will critically explore the influences of genre on the reading and writing of legal and literary texts, and move on to a consideration of the uses of law and literature study for the development of ethical and effective legal professionals, drawing connections between genre and professional subject formation. It will also include short unit on the theory and practice of critical discourse analysis and conclude with a comparativist unit on legal interventions into the family lives of enslaved African-Americans and indigenous Australians, and a law and literature "case study", the topic of which may vary from year to year. Students will be required to write a substantial scholarly paper. Evaluation will be based primarily on the quality of the final paper, students must also achieve satisfactory performance on preparation of an outline, critical bibliography and draft. Evaluation will also consider class participation and a discourse analysis exercise. 2.00credit(s) Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Law School

Credits:

2.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.villanova.edu

Phone Number:

(610) 519-4500

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

The Course Profile information is provided and updated by third parties including the respective institutions. While the institutions are able to update their information at any time, the information is not independently validated, and no party associated with this website can accept responsibility for its accuracy.