Abstract

In 1988, D.A. Miller used the example of nineteenth-century novels to argue that the subversive power of literary texts was greatly exaggerated, and that the novel tended instead merely to reproduce the ruses of existing social power structures.' More recently, however, a group ofjurists and literary scholars met at Yale University to discuss the relations between legal and literary discourses. Focusing more on the rhetorical nature of legal discourse than on its representation in literary works, those assembled came to very different conclusions than Miller. Reva B. Siegel, a professor of law, argued, for instance, that while it is conventionally assumed that the category of legal fictions is sparsely populated by a few quaint counterfactuals, it seems instead that the category of legal fictions is quite large-the on which we fight some of the social of our day (228). Some of those major conflicts can best be understood by tracing them back to the period between the mid-eighteenth and the mid-nineteenth centuries, when the legal grounds of modern Europe and the U.S. were being laid. In particular, it is by returning to this period that one can begin deciphering the relation between that figural terrain and a conflict so pervasive and so fundamental

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.