Literary Criticisms of Law

Guyora Binder, Professor of Law at the State University of New York at Buffalo, is the author of Treaty Conflict and Political Contradiction and a coauthor of Criminal Law. Robert Weisberg, Edwin E. Huddleson, Jr., Professor of Law at Stanford University, is a coauthor of Criminal Law.

Immensely learned, thorough, and sane. -- Anthony Julius The Times Literary Supplement

• PREFACE ix INTRODUCTION Law as Literature 3 From Letters to Literature 7 Literary Canons and Academies 13 The Risks and Possibilities of Law and Literature 16 Genres of Criticism 20 CHAPTER ONE Interpretive Crises in American Legal Thought 28 Introduction 28 1.1 The Crisis of Whig Hermeneutics 31 1.2 Progressive Interpretation 56 1.3 The Crisis of Progressive Interpretation 87 Conclusion 109 CHAPTER TWO Hermeneutic Criticism of Law 112 Introduction 112 2.1 Literary Theories of Interpretation 114 2.2 Law as Literary Interpretation 154 2.3 Legal Hermeneutics in Practice 188 Conclusion 199 CHAPTER THREE Narrative Criticism of Law 201 Introduction: The Law as Narrative Trope 201 3.1 Literary Theories of Narrative 209 3.2 Instrumental Claims: Narrative as Law's Antagonist and Salvation 232 3.3 Law and Narrative as Mutually Inherent 261 Conclusion: Performing the Law and Narrating the Nation 287 CHAPTER FOUR Rhetorical Criticism of Law 292 Introduction: Law, Rhetoric, and the Problem of Authoritarianism 292 4.1 A Very Brief History of Rhetoric 299 4.2 The Conservative Model o Rhetoric 309 4.3 Is a Liberal Rhetoric Possible? 330 Conclusion 376 CHAPTER FIVE Deconstructive Criticism of Law 378 Introduction 378 5.1 Derridean Deconstruction 380 5.2 Deconstruction as Epistemological Criticism 408 5.3 Deconstruction as Ethical Criticism 440 Conclusion 460 CHAPTER SIX Cultural Criticism of Law 462 Introduction 462 6.1 Theoretical Sources for Cultural Criticism of Law 464 62 Cultural Readings of Disputes 480 6.3 Cultural Readings of Capitalism 507 Conclusion 538 INDEX 541