LT394-6-SP-CO:
Law and Literature
2024/25
Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies
Colchester Campus
Spring
Undergraduate: Level 6
Current
Monday 13 January 2025
Friday 21 March 2025
15
27 August 2024
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
This module will examine the interrelationship between law and literature from a variety of perspectives. The module reflects research interests of staff in the Law School and Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies. There is increasing academic interest in interdisciplinary study in law, and there is an established body of scholarship examining the relationship between law and literature from a variety of perspectives.
The perspectives examined in the module will include, but not be confined to, the representation of law in literature, legal texts as literature and how techniques of literary interpretation can inform the study and understanding of law. The module will also present the opportunity for students to examine the nature of interdisciplinary work, exemplified by the study of law and literature.
The aims of this module are:
- To explore introductions to relevant literary theory and legal theory, examining issues of textuality, authorship and interpretation as well as contexts.
- To explore such issues as justice, morality, and reasoning, trials and courts, campaigns for legal reform, anarchy, crime and punishment, the concepts of race, human rights, migration and theatre and international crimes.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Write essays which analyse topics exploring the relationship between literature and law, making use of appropriate vocabulary and techniques, appropriate to this level of study.
- Demonstrate an awareness of theoretical contexts and frameworks for the study of literature and law.
- Demonstrate an awareness of the implications of the interdisciplinary study of literature and law.
- Illustrate through comparative analysis the way in which literature and law may be related.
No additional information available.
This module will be delivered via:
- Weekly 1-hour lectures
- Weekly 1-hour seminars
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The New British poetry, 1968-88 (1988). London: Paladin Grafton.
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Eagleton, T. (2008)
Literary theory: an introduction. Anniversary ed., 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=465240&site=ehost-live.
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Etherington, B. and Zimbler, J. (2021) ‘Decolonize Practical Criticism?’,
English: Journal of the English Association, 70(270), pp. 227–236. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1093/english/efab017.
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Jane B. Baron (1999) ‘Law, Literature, and the Problems of Interdisciplinarity’,
The Yale Law Journal, 108(5). Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/797370.
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Durant, A. and Fabb, N. (2015)
How to Write Essays and Dissertations. Routledge. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315835471.
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Glaspell, S., Bigsby, C.W.E. and Dymkowski, C. (1987) ‘Trifles’, in
Plays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 35–46. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139165969.003.
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Edward J. Eberle & Bernhard Grossfeld (no date) ‘Law and Poetry’,
Roger Williams University Law Review, 11(2). Available at:
https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/rwulr11&i=359.
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Alexander Howard (no date) ‘The Dispossessed at 50: Ursula K. Le Guin’s “anarchist utopia” was an anguished response to war. Its political power endures’,
The Conversation [Preprint]. Available at:
https://theconversation.com/the-dispossessed-at-50-ursula-k-le-guins-anarchist-utopia-was-an-anguished-response-to-war-its-political-power-endures-227487.
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The Newgate Calendar (no date). Available at:
https://wellcomecollection.org/works/kvu3kmd8.
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Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (no date). Available at:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/301/301-h/301-h.htm.
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Capstick, T. (2018) ‘Migration and Belonging’, in S. Bahun and B. Petric (eds)
Thinking home?: interdisciplinary dialogues. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 185–206. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1841155&site=ehost-live&ebv=EK&ppid=Page-__-143.
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William Blake poetry (no date). Available at:
https://www.blakearchive.org/.
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Hamilton, C. et al. (1985) How the vote was won: and other Suffragette plays. London: Methuen.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
Coursework |
Participation |
|
5% |
Coursework |
Online Portfolio (Completion of discussion forum posts on Moodle. No submission to FASer) |
09/05/2025 |
15% |
Coursework |
Reflective Log |
16/05/2025 |
20% |
Coursework |
Summative Essay |
19/05/2025 |
60% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Prof Katharine Cockin, email: k.m.cockin@essex.ac.uk.
Various
LiFTS General Office - liftstt@essex.ac.uk
Tel. (01206) 872626
Yes
Yes
Yes
Dr Eleanor Perry
University of Kent
Lecturer in Creative Writing (Poetry)
Available via Moodle
Of 15 hours, 15 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
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