As a consequence of the entry into force of preventive measures aimed at avoiding the contagion during the COVID-19 emergency, some library services of the university were temporarily limited. Therefore, some of the teaching activities planned previously (see the prior Syllabus below) were partially modified. Limited changes were made also in respect of access to text-books and other sources for the same reasons. However the ordinary Syllabus will be followed again, as soon as all the above mentioned services are completely available (i.e., access to reading rooms). However, students not attending classes who have already bought the books indicated in the first draft of the Syllabus can use them also during the emergency period.
FOR STUDENTS ATTENDING E-LEARNING ACTIVITIES:
A. After reading a book, selected in a list of in English and American literary texts, each student is asked to write a book review to be presented orally, during in Skype streaming sessions, partially video-recorded, at the end of the first part of classes. All students will attend the presentation and are invited to intervene in the debate.
B. Mandatory and optional reading will be indicated in the Moodle platform, thanks to PowerPoint slides, with audio-recorded commentaries, containing the analysis of several issues (about the “Law and Literature” movement, especially in the Anglo-American experience), in order to favour individual study too, and at the same time the rise of a forum debate, which will be held by using e-learning methods (in streaming via Skype), on a weekly basis.
C. Students’ active participation in a webinair, after the presentations of contributions delivered by national and foreign experts of “Law and Literature” devoted to comparative profiles, to be held at the end of the second part of teaching activities.
FOR STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING E-LEARNING ACTIVITIES:
A. A book, selected in the following list
a.1. American Authors:
- Henry James, "The Bostonians" (1870) or "The Golden Bowl" (1904)
- Edith Warthon, "The Age of Innocence" (1920) or "The Children" (1928)
- John Steinbeck, "Of Mice and Men" (1937) or "The Grapes of Wrath" (1939)
- Harper Lee, "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1960)
- Philip Roth, "American Pastoral" (1997) or "The Human Stain" (2000)
a.2. EnglishAuthors :
- Jane Austen, Emma (1816) or Pride and Prejudice (1813)
- Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837) or Hard Times (1854)
- Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (1925) or A Room of One's Own (1929)
- William Golding, Lord of the Flies (1954).
B. The following materials, available online (in "open access" or in the university library by making a search thanks to "OneSearch" via Proxy - v. https://www.sba.unifi.it/p66.html and https://www.siaf.unifi.it/vp-680-impostazioni-proxy-per-accedere-alla-rete-di-ateneo-dall-esterno.html.
b.1. James Boyd White, Establishing Relations between Law and Other Forms of Thought and Language, in Erasmus Law Review, 2008, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 3-22, in Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper Series Working Paper No. 113/2008 (in SSRN, The Social Science Research Network Electronic Paper Collection: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1142827);
b.2. James Boyd White, The Cultural Background of the Legal Imagination, in Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper Series Working Paper No. 180/2010 (In SSRN, The Social Science Research Network Electronic Paper Collection: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1535599);
b.3. James Boyd White, Law as Language: Reading Law and Reading Literature, in Texas Law Review, Vol. 60, No. 3, 1982, pp. 415-445 (scaricabile tramite Proxy accedendo ala banca dati HeinOnline);
b.4. The following Chapters of the book Robert A. Ferguson, Practice Extended: Beyond Law and Literature, Columbia University Press, 2016, available online in the data bank JSTOR (freely until 30 of 2020) - https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/ferg17536.5- and and also as e-book - by OneSearch, via Proxy) : Chap. II, The U.S. Constitution as Literature (pp. 17-34 - https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/ferg17536.6); CODA - How to read a Courtroom Novel (pp. 265-278) https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/ferg17536.20
PRIOR SYLLABUS (applicable at the end of the emergency and for students who already bought books, also currently)
STUDENTS WHO DO NOT ATTEND CLASSES should study the following materials:
a) Text: M.J. Falcòn y Tella, Law and Literature, Bill Nijhoff, Leiden- Boston, 2015 (pgs. 4-37; pgs. 38-50; pgs. 51-53; pgs. 108-131; pgs. 139-166; pgs. 172-183; pgs. 198-206; pgs. 212-214, pgs. 221-222).
b) One book (selected on the Student’s choice) among the following ones:
English literature:
- Jane Austen, Emma (1816) or Pride and Prejudice (1813)
- Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837) or Hard Times (1854)
- Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (1925) or A Room of One's Own (1929)
- William Golding, Lord of the Flies (1954)
- Ian McEwan, Atonement (2010) or The Children Act (2014)
American literature:
- Henry James, The Bostonians (1870) or The Golden Bowl (1904)
- Edith Warthon, The Age of Innocence (1920) or The Children (1928)
- John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men (1937) or The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
- J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye (1951)
- Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)
- Philip Roth, American Pastoral (1997) or The Human Stain (2000).
For students who do not attend classes and already added Anglo-American Law into their student career, the exam should be prepared on the basis of the following materials:
a) A. Sansone, Diritto e letteratura, Giuffrè, Milano, 2001, pp. 1-4, 15-19, 34-43, 68-71, 73-142 (estratto disponibile presso la copisteria “Centro Stampa il Prato”, via Carlo del Prete, 38/r);
b) J. Boyd White, Quando le parole perdono il loro significato, Giuffrè, Milano, pp. I-XIX, 1-8, 13-45, 255-296, 349-408;
c) In addition, one of the following books:
- I. McEwan, La ballata di Adam Henry;
- P. Roth, La macchia umana;
- H. Lee, Il buio oltre la siepe;
- V. Woolf, Una stanza tutta per sé;
- J. Austen, Orgoglio e pregiudizio.
Learning Objectives
The main aim of the course consists in proposing to students an innovative method apt to widen their knowledge of Anglo-American law, by following the interdisciplinary approach adopted by the Law and Literature movement.
Its learning goals and objectives are manifold: to improve analytical skills in coping with complex societal challenges, to promote a critical reflection on legal topics open to a multiplicity of “extra-legal” issues, to enhance the capacity to study various frameworks from a comparative standpoint by using a foreign language, in writing and debating, and to develop research abilities while adopting new technological devices.
The analysis of Anglo-American literary works and of the related historical, cultural, political and social context will help student to better identify the outlines of the areas regulated by the law and to understand the underlying reasons of legislative provisions, judicial decisions, statutory interpretation and legal concepts.
Some of the topics that will be dealt with are: the legal position of subjects whose equality rights were breached for long time without consequences, like children, women and persons belonging to ethnic or religious minorities, as well as the importance of ethical and moral questions, such as those concerning privacy rights, end-of-life and reproductive choices, death penalty and prisoners’ condition.
Prerequisites
"Constitutional law I" and "Civil law I" shall be already taken. "Comparative legal systems" is strongly recommended.
This requirement does not apply to Erasmus+ students and other exchange students.
Teaching Methods
After the lockdown, some changes were necessary. Teaching activity has been carried out via e-learning methods (classes and in streaming, upload of audio-video files and slides on the Moodle platform). The general framework of the course however is the same as before, as better illustrated below. The main difference consits in the fact that resources are available via internet (e.g., data banks, e-journals and e-books, online activities, webinars, etc.).
In the first part of the course, a constant interaction among students will always be possible, given the possibility of reading materials in advance and of attending lectures, too (via Skype, in a dedicated account). To enhance research skills, several online resources will be made available, thanks to the collaboration with the Library of Social Sciences. Then, an in-depth individual study will be carried out, under the teacher’s supervision. Students will be able to make their research activities also by reading chapters in e-books, articles in electronic journals and data banks (e.g., via OneSearch, JSTOR, Project Muse, etc.), before writing their paper in English. Then, they will give their oral presentations in class. The final written draft of the book review will be disseminated among them, finally.
All these activities have a twofold aim: to enhance students’ awareness of the complexity of socio-legal issues and to favour the development of a critical vision, thanks to a wide and open dialogue.
In the second part of the course, materials up-loaded on Moodle (Powepoint Slides with audio-commentaries) will be made available in advance, in order to allow an online forum debate (to be held in recorded streaming), that will be held on a weekly basis. The debate will be devoted, in the virtual class, to topics delat with in prior mandatory reading, assigned to all students, as well as on parts of selected books. Some core issues will be object of a wide dialogue (in the "forum").
This teaching method intends to encourage active participation in discussion, team working and critical reflection. The analysis of a topic starting from a book discussed in a forum (from a "Law in Literature" standpoint) widens the possibilities of argumentation and gets the students accustomed to managing a constructive and correct dialogue (also from a "Law as Literature" perspective).
At the end, a final seminar (webinar) will be held, with the possibility for students of asking questions to experts of “Law and Literature” of national and international renown and of proposing personal observations.
Further information
In order to attend the course, students shall subscribe to the Moodle platform by the first week of classes.
The enrolment in the Moodle platform is necessary in order to access to the course syllabus, sources and materials and to participate in the all the activities of the entire course (both the first and the second part).
Type of Assessment
For students who do not attend classes:
The examination is oral and it consists of three questions, as a rule.
The first question deals with a broad topic, in order to allow students to show their knowledge as well as their ability to connect the different parts of the program by using the comparative method.
The second question might be narrower and deals with a specific, different part of the program. The third question deals with a book which has been chosen among those listed above under b).
For students who attend classes:
The evaluation is based on the results reached in the paper delivered at the end of the first part of the course, on the final draft disseminated via Moodle (PowerPoint Multimedia presentation) and on their active participation in the discussions and in the seminar with invited experts.
Furthermore, in respect of the second part of the course, the evaluation will take into account students’ contribution to the laboratories, their presentation in class of the results of the forum debate and the text drafted at the end of the course.
The purpose of these evaluation criteria reflects the need to test students’ capacity of analysis while following the interpretative methods proposed during the course.
Finally, the adequate use of the comparative method, in all the planned activities (i.e., drafting the book review and the multimedia PowerPoint paper, the active contribution and participation in class and in the thematic forums, the final report and its presentation in class) will be considered carefully.
Course program
As already underlined, some changes were necessary as a consequence of the lockdown. However, teaching is still provided throughout Dr. Elena Urso and Dr. Sara Benvenuti. Each part of the course lasts 24 hours, respectively. The biggest chanhe consists in the adoption of e-learning methods, as alternative to ordinary classes. Some activities are held in streaming, other on Moodle (e.g., slides in PowerPoint with audio-recorded commentaries). The main traits of the course have not been modified, but they still correspond to the following description.
The first part of the course will be devoted to a wide introduction to the Law and Literature movement (i.e., to its origins in the USA, its development in other countries and its current presence in Italy). After a quick glance at the initial period of time (from the 1940s until the 1960s) during which it emerged, a deeper analysis will be made in respect of its later renaissance in the 1970s, while studying the works of the most prominent authors who considered this approach and emphasing the various different positions adopted by them and also the contrapositions among their views (e.g. by James Boyd White, Richard Weisberg, Richard Posner, Ian Ward, Martha Nussbaum, Ronald Dworkin, Stanley Fish, Owen Fiss and James Seaton). The multifaceted dimension of the phenomenon will deserve a preliminary explanation apt to clarify the deep divergencies between the vision of “Law as Literature” and the one that is centred on the perspective of “Law in Literature”.
The latter will be followed in order to propose a wide scenario, thanks to the study of modern and contemporary English and American authors. A selection of books will be proposed for this purpose, while taking into account the need to focus on much debated social and legal issues mainly (e.g. equality of all human beings, independently of their age, social, national or ethnic origins, political ideas, religious beliefs, health or economic condition, sex, gender or sexual orientation, etc.), so to give students a wide background. They will be free to decide the specific topic to analyse and, in collaboration with the teacher, they will be called to participate actively in the debate soon after studying the mandatory materials - available since the beginning of the course -. Their research will be carried on by accessing to all the resources of the Library and the Linguistic Centre of the University of Florence (i.e., data banks and electronic reviews, e-books, videos, etc.) and the results will be shared thanks to a presentation of a brief paper in class contaning an original book review, to be disseminated later on via Moodle (by PowerPoint slides, with a basic bibliography, a list of links and further materials).
The second part of the course will be devoted to analyse some legal texts (statute and case law) and a selection of Anglo-American novels with the aim of analysing the style, the related historical, political and philosophical influences, and the legal aspects which are taken into consideration in Anglo-American literature.
Namely, the classes will examine both the literary dimension of the legal text – which will be studied and interpreted through literary hermeneutics -, and the legal dimension of the literary text, for the purpose of highlighting several legal aspects that are typical of the Anglo-American legal system.
As far as the first approach (so called “Law as Literature”) is concerned, classes will examine, for instance, the American Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and a selection of Anglo-American case law.
As far as the second approach (so called “Law in Literature”) is concerned, thematic workshops will be organised. A selection of novels will be presented and discussed in class using e-learning methodologies. The topics will be selected at the beginning of the second part of the course, after having defined the number of attending students. The topics could be: among others, the trial, the judge and the legal narrative; Cyber Data, privacy, Artificial Intelligence and new technologies; the legal condition of women; the condition of particular ethnic or religious minorities, also as a consequence of the English colonialism.
The second part of the course will end with a forum debate on the Moodle platform which will be presented in class simulating a legal trial.
In particular, students will be required to read a novel and discuss it in a forum on the Moodle platform. To this end, students will be divided into two groups: the first group will support the thesis emerging from the book; the second group will support the opposite thesis. Each group will develop its arguments on the Moodle platform, where a common space for debate will be set up. The results of the debate will be presented in class simulating a legal trial, and result in a final written report that will be evaluated by the teacher.