“A trial and a literary text,”Shoshana Felman once noted, “do not aim at the same kind of conclus... more “A trial and a literary text,”Shoshana Felman once noted, “do not aim at the same kind of conclusion, nor do they strive toward the same kind of effect. A trial is presumed to be a search for truth, but technically it is a search for a decision; and thus. . . it seeks not truth but finality: a force of resolution.” Literature, on the other hand, Felman posits, is characterized by “a search for meaning. . . for heightened significance, for symbolic understanding” (Felman 55). Trials function to curb the proliferation of meanings in favor of finality, if not absolute truth, whereas literature allegedly forgoes such determinacy. A corollary of this distinction has to do with language itself: while law seeks to fix linguistic meaning, literature draws attention to the inherent instability of meaning.
In Poetic Justice, Martha Nussbaum (1996) offers one version of an argument frequently repeated i... more In Poetic Justice, Martha Nussbaum (1996) offers one version of an argument frequently repeated in the history of law-and-literature scholar-ship; to wit, that the literary imagination performs a salutary function with regard to many domains of modern public life. While law and ...
“A trial and a literary text,”Shoshana Felman once noted, “do not aim at the same kind of conclus... more “A trial and a literary text,”Shoshana Felman once noted, “do not aim at the same kind of conclusion, nor do they strive toward the same kind of effect. A trial is presumed to be a search for truth, but technically it is a search for a decision; and thus. . . it seeks not truth but finality: a force of resolution.” Literature, on the other hand, Felman posits, is characterized by “a search for meaning. . . for heightened significance, for symbolic understanding” (Felman 55). Trials function to curb the proliferation of meanings in favor of finality, if not absolute truth, whereas literature allegedly forgoes such determinacy. A corollary of this distinction has to do with language itself: while law seeks to fix linguistic meaning, literature draws attention to the inherent instability of meaning.
In Poetic Justice, Martha Nussbaum (1996) offers one version of an argument frequently repeated i... more In Poetic Justice, Martha Nussbaum (1996) offers one version of an argument frequently repeated in the history of law-and-literature scholar-ship; to wit, that the literary imagination performs a salutary function with regard to many domains of modern public life. While law and ...
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