Law & Literature

Law and literature can seem oppositional, but they are two different methods of accomplishing social change. Law is an important technique that can be used to promote progressive justice. Literature offers a similar opportunity because people are changed by what they read and by what they write, as they can be by all creative arts. Of course, both law and literature can be instruments to preserve the status quo or to promote repression. However, I strive to celebrate their liberatory potential and inter-relationships.

Jim Elkins, the editor of Legal Studies Forum, has a great syllabus on law and literature. Additionally he has written about my work, James Elkins, A Poetics - Of and For - Ruthann Robson, 8 N.Y. City L. Rev. 363 (2005) and we have also published a conversation about law and literature, A Conversation (with James R. Elkins), 29 Legal Studies Forum 145-171 (2005).

Other discussions of my work combining law and literature include:
Kate Nace Day, A Path to Story(s) Table, 8 N.Y. City L. Rev. 345 (2005);
Andrea McArdle, Teaching Writing in Clinical, Lawyering, and Legal Writing Courses: Negotiating Professional and Personal Voice, 12 Clinical L. Rev. 501 (2005-2006);
Lynda Hall, Ruthann Robson: Writing Life and Fiction-Theory, 8 N.Y. City L. Rev. 401 (2005).