헤라클레스의 활: 법과 문학의 서사전략

Abstract

Law and literature belong to the different disciplines both in concept and in practice. But the recent academic trend has shown that between these two spheres there exist many similarities by which law and literature can find a way to define their own realities in a mutual context. Since law and literature have the unsettling capacity to portray humanity, they are inevitably linked to the concrete story of individuals. Law is a story like any novel, while in the process of making a story it has to make all the considerations concerning the human interests. It is in this sense that law and literature can find a common ground in their use of narrative. In fact, narrative has now become a useful tool in interpreting the legal problems. As a major literary concept with its own history, narrative belongs to the large categories to order and construct reality. Both in law and literature, narrative can lead to the medium to bring a perspective on humanity; as such, the role of narrative is to embody the complexities of life in a deeper level. Due to the efficacy of narrative, law acquires an effective means of explaining and interpreting the many sides of humanity that law itself cannot afford to allow. Along with the positive impact of narrative in law, the role of narrative has been actively explored with the advent of “the law and literature movement” starting in the 1970s. The debate on the value of narrative has become more intense largely because narrative has many advantages as well as ambiguities in the execution of legal matters. The narrative force in law is recognized as carrying a more complex side as it is not as naive as many lawyers believed it to be. Law tries to (or, has to) solve the confrontations occurring in human affairs rather than to achieve the order and ideal that literary narrative attempts to accomplish. Thus, instead of adopting symbols and metaphors in the development of its own narrative, law primarily exercises reasoning and rhetoric in finding a solution to human conflicts. As belonging to the topic that interests many legal and literary scholars, the meaning of narrative in law will open a new horizon in the study of law and literature.