Explore our documents on law and literature New selection in the discovery area

Looking for inspiration? Each month, our subject specialists highlight a particular topic through a range of documents from the National Library’s collections. In September, discover our selection on law and literature!

At first glance, law and literature seem to be worlds apart. However, both share the use of language to represent social reality and are closely linked to the interaction between society and culture. The complex relationship between these two fields, oscillating between complementarity and mutual opposition, is described and investigated in the context of an academic discipline called ‘Law and Literature’, set up by American jurists at the beginning of the 20^th century.

This movement conceals an interdisciplinary field of research centred on three axes: ‘Law in Literature’, ‘Law as Literature’ and ‘Law of Literature’. Our selection reflects this trend towards interdisciplinarity and reveals both how literary works enable lawyers to gain a better understanding of human nature and social reality and how legal texts themselves can be interpreted and analysed as literary works.

You can browse this compilation in the discovery area on the ground floor of the Reading Room. If you are interested in one of the documents, simply remove it from the shelf: they are all available for on-site consultation and/or home loan. Enjoy your read!