Listed in: Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought, as LJST-107
Formerly listed as: LJST-07
Martha M. Umphrey (Section 01)
If media coverage is any evidence, it is clear that legal trials capture, and have always captured, the imagination of America. Trials engage us affectively and politically by dramatizing difficult moral and social predicaments and by offering a public forum for debate and judgment. They also “perform” law in highly stylized ways that affect our sense of what law is and does. This course will explore the trial from a number of different angles: as an idea, as a legal practice, and as a modern cultural phenomenon. What does it mean to undergo a “trial”? How do various historical trial forms--trial by ordeal or by oath, for example--compare with our contemporary adversarial form? What cultural and legal trajectories have trials followed in U.S. history? What narrative and structuring roles do trials play in literature and film? How do popular renderings of trials in imaginative texts and the media compare with actual trial practice, and perhaps encourage us to sit in judgment on law itself? In what ways do well-known trials help us to tell a story about what America is, and what kind of story is it?
Limited to 40 students. Fall semester. Professor Umphrey.
If Overenrolled: Upper class students will be given preference. Discussion based course.
Cost: $57.00 ?
Section 01
Tu 01:00 PM - 02:20 PM CHAP 201
Th 01:00 PM - 02:20 PM CHAP 201
This is preliminary information about books for this course. Please contact your instructor or the Academic Coordinator for the department, before attempting to purchase these books.
| ISBN | Title | Publisher | Author(s) | Comment | Book Store | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eichmann in Jerusalem (Penguin) | Penguin 1992 | Arendt, Hannah | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| The Oresteia | 1988 Penguin | Aeschylus (translation Fagles) | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| A Trial by Jury | 1st ed. AA. Kopf 2001 | D. Graham Burnett | Amherst Books | TBD | ||
| The Trial (Muir Translation) | Knopf 1992 | Franz Kafka | Amherst Books | TBD |
These books are available locally at Amherst Books.