The Law, The Writer and The Work: How an Author's Interaction with the Legal System Impacts His Writing

Abstract

By tracing the lives led by four famous authors and exploring the societies that produced them, this article will show how law effects literature in ways that many readers may not notice. Rather than explore what was expressed by the author, this work will examine the effect the background of the author has on the tone of the works of literature which they produce, the effect the law and their culture's legal system had on their background, and how the characteristics of the cultures and authors reflect the characteristics of the governing legal system. Ultimately, this piece shows that, rather than a society's legal system reflecting its underlying culture, the power of the law has the ability to shape the culture that it is supposed to serve.