Law and Literature: A Still-Thriving Relationship - (International Studies in Law and Literature) by Pedro Talavera (Hardcover)

About the Book

Literature opens a crack in the stony self-referential formality of the law, a fissure through which questions of meaning can filter, forming a visible groove that jurists cannot and must not ignore in their education and in the practice of law.

Book Synopsis

What kind of relationship exists between law and literature? Why have so many great jurists and philosophers used literature to explore their own disciplines? What were they looking for, and what did they find? What can law learn from literature, and how does literature reflect legal praxis? This book takes us on a fascinating journey through those questions and their answers. The first part offers a diachronic and thematic overview of the law and literature movement, showing how literature has influenced new ways of thinking about law from a narrative, hermeneutic, humanistic, ethical, and critical perspective. The second part analyzes the value of literature in the education of students, lawyers, and judges. And the third section presents a captivating analysis of the literary notion of justice and the relationship between literature and the economic analysis of law.

About the Author

Pedro Talavera, Ph.D. (1999), University of Valencia (Spain), is Professor of Philosophy of Law and Political Philosophy at that university's law school. He has published seven books, including Derecho y Literatura. El reflejo literario de lo jurídico (Comares, 2006), and many articles on the protection of human rights in the field of biotechnology, conscientious objection, family law, legal reasoning, and the relationship between law and literature. His most recent book is Filosofía del Derecho (Tirant lo Blanch, 2023).