Law and literature

Oct. 28-> how to write a paper

No lecture 21-22

2nd lecture
When searching the definition of a term, the first thing is to consult a dictionary;
Literature (oxford definition):
-acquaintance with letters or books, polite or human learning
-literary work or production
-literary production as a whole (quantitative), writing which has consideration on the ground of beauty and
emotions (aesthetical)
-artistic creation through language it products
-the text of a group or subjects
However, it’s difficult to define the primary sense of the term literature precisely or to set rigid limits on its
use.
Literature is the fighting of groups to set a canon in order to emerge; the word canon is important due to a
book published in 1994 by Harold Bloom explaining the concept of canon literature: canon is important and
must be celebrated; distinction between history, philosophy and literature->Shakespeare, Dante,
Cervantes, Montaigne and Moliere (aristocratic)/ E. Dickinson, J. Austin, Dickens, Tolstoij (democratic age)/
Freud (analysed from Shakespeare), Proust, Joyce, Virginia Wolf, Kafka, Neruda (chaotic age); a book of
comparative literature; Shakespeare is the canon and those who disagree are wrong (he is the centre of
literature according to the author).
Why we need a canon-> human being is not eternal, he has limited time to read and so a selection of
writing is needed (in this case the exclusion is positive); the canon is not fixed, is always opened (so
exclusion is not permanent) but needs rule.
Various experiment which tried to quantize literature productions -> analysed the preferences (authors) of
scholars and popular opinion, it resulted that Shakespeare is appreciated by both (so he is the canon).
If there is a canon in literature, may there be a canon also in law? The concept of literature is also the most
important canon in public comparative law in US-> the canons are the most popular (quoted by courts) and
prestigious (extremely technical) cases in the national jurisprudence which define the fundamental rights
(what it is written in the American constitution-> bill of rights) of a country; also in law there is a selection
of cases. If there is a canon there is also an anti-canon-> mistaken cases that made the history of American
law (ex. Plessy vs Ferguson, Dred Scott vs Stanford).
Canon in law is open and circular-> what is canonical in law changes according to how we define the canon
and at the same time the canon depends on the purpose of the law (depend on the authority of a single
institution and not of a legal scholar), this is more suitable in common law system (basically founded on
case law).
The formulation of a canon assumes the presence of an audience, essentially a group of person; canon is
pedagogical.
Law and literature as crossing themes:
1-interpretation-> in the process of analysing of both texts there is a meaning, technical expression
2-narrative-> who is speaking: US constitution begins with we the people (the Americans are declaring
smthg), so there is an author, a voice as in literature
3-style-> French court decision have a very brief and concise style, US opinion are way discursive (contain
the opinion and dissenting opinion of all the judges), same for German, Italy.
4-tropes and metaphors -> ex. Giving legal personality to object that must be defended or defend
themselves in a trial
5-intertextuality
6-author-> who is the writer
7- reader-> who is the final receiver
Hamlet
Shakespeare as a political thinker-> in his writing we found concept of English renaissance. He is not a
political theorist but he can stand among them, there’s a political line in his texts; Shakespeare did not
write his texts but there’s a theory according to which someone very close to the queen gave some
information to him.
Politics in Shakespeare-> a concept taken from Greek “politeia” which means constitution or the general
framework of a community and at the same time a legal order. So politeia and politics generally refers to
political situations, it is something natural and for the author it is important to find a connection between
the human nature and politics (H. Bloom=Shakespearean theatre connect existence with politics).
Hamlet (as every text of Shakespeare) is a classic writing= not only because was written many years ago but
also because has many meanings that can be understood in very time (timeless and unlimited).
For the author every existing human of the 17th century was a character on stage (everyone was an actor,
not only the professional one)-> theatre is a metaphor found in almost in every field, but for puritans
theatre was a bad thing disturbing morality (theatres should’ve been outside city, only males could perform
on stage).
Shakespeare used Machiavelli ideas but didn’t agree with him-> Machiavelli compared how the concept of
value and honour was conceived both in 15th century and in roman times (Christianity makes men not so
strong, but pagans were because their gods were as so; Christianity humbles humans, they rather suffering
instead to take actions, to be great in mind and body strength).
Another way of seeing Shakespeare’s writing, is a deep analysis and comprehension of human nature, his
sentiments and not only from a political point of view.
There are many editions of hamlet-> here analysed is the arden Shakespeare.
The original story was not written by Shakespeare, but by Saxo Gramaticus in 13t century, so basically it is a
tradition; the story was extremely cruel (there is a prince, a murderer, revenge) from the Shakespeare one,
he changed it because of Christianity moralism so he adapted the story to such background.
Pass1: during the speech with Ophelia (“oh what a noble mind…”), hamlet take notice that someone is
listening to them behind the curtains-> speech about the aspects of hamlet, he was a renaissance man, he
had all the qualities (politician, a soldier, able to speak and to act…), he tries to be many things as possible,
many identifies, tires to be the perfect man and that’s why he is in conflict.
Tragedy= conception of Hegel -> there’s a clash of two values conflicting, there is a certain idea against
another kind of idea (two forms of good fighting).
Shakespeare describes Hamlet similar to us-> conflictual and betrayed
Pass2: (“cut is throat in a church”) historical reference to a moment in Florence which is the “congiura dei
pazzi” a powerful moment-> Laertes is described as a man different from Hamlet, what he tries to be from
the beginning, powerful and active man.
Pass3: (hamlet says “and blest are those…”) Hamlet speaks about Oratio, he is detached from anyone, he is
a sort of ancient roman saver like Seneca (you cannot fight against anything in order to change things, be
passive and assertive), he is not passion slave, he is moderate and tries to persuade Hamlet.
Passage of “to be or not to be”-> the key of everything, there is something secret in this monologue; to be
or not to be, to live or not (hamlet is maleincoi, he has the image of his father and his mother), there is the
opposition between Oratio (follow the destiny) and Laertes; to sleep= to die that is suicide by Seneca (not
be afraid of death, living a different life); we’re always waiting for a judgment that never comes (delay of
the law); he was scared of seeing his father coming back from death linking the two dimensions; there is
the other side of Hamlet; memento mori= the constant reminder that we’ll going to die sooner or later.

How to write a paper?

Structure of 5 paragraphs: 1 introduction, 3 paragraphs (which are the core when the ideas are developed)
and 1 conclusion+ references.
Abstract: very brief description of the essay (15 lines generally), summarise the entire content of the essay,
must be written at the end after developed and concluded the text, must contain keywords at the end of
the abstract (simple words which captured the whole paper, at least 5)
Paragraph 1: introduction of couples of pages, the main idea and ambition of the test, present what you
want to demonstrate -> recollecting the ideas disseminated in the next paragraphs (done at the end as the
abstract)
Paragraph 2: a first sentence + elaborate on your topic sentence+ provide an example and explain the
significance of such example
Par. 3: as in the previous paragraph with another topic
Par. 4: as in the previous paragraph with another topic
Paragraph 5: conclusion, what you want to demonstrate
References

Style must be clear, concise and logic

Resources: google scholar, Jstor, HeinOnline, WilieyOnline, SSRN.com, Academia.edu, bibliopass