Literature Alongside Law as a Contemporary Paradigm

13 Cultural Dynamics 53

24 Pages Posted: 6 Sep 2009

See all articles by Shulamit Almog

Shulamit Almog

University of Haifa - Faculty of Law

Date Written: 2001

Abstract

This article presents and evaluates two paradigms and their relevance within the law and literature discourse. According to the first one, The Global law paradigm, the law appears as a huge web or as a unified and orderly meta-network, which encompasses human experience in all realms, and provides a normative response for every aspect of it. This paradigm may be set against an alternative perception, the paradigm of literature alongside law. Within the framework of this paradigm, vulnerable parts of the law, some of its false pretenses as well as the hidden processes shaping it are exposed. Next, is the establishment of both hope and the ability to fulfill it, animated by imagination, shaped by literature and reflected in it, to put things right; to arrive at concrete truths and justice in a reality which does not enable comprehension of the whole, and never abandoning the strife towards the complex and the constantly changing equilibrium between human needs and human limitations.

Keywords: law and literature, global law paradigm, literature alongside law paradigm, legal postmodernism

Suggested Citation

Almog, Shulamit, Literature Alongside Law as a Contemporary Paradigm (2001). 13 Cultural Dynamics 53, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1467935

Shulamit Almog (Contact Author)

University of Haifa - Faculty of Law ( email )

Mount Carmel
Haifa, 31905
Israel