Do law and literature really have anything to say to each other? Until now, that threshold question has vexed law and literature studies. This revolutionary work provides a bold new answer, showing how law and literature spring from the same cultural impulses. Drawing on the archetypal criticism of Northrop Frye, the book takes a unique, quasi-scientific approach to the subject, covering both law in literature and law as literature. The Structures of Law and Literature moves beyond the works usually studied in the field (Charles Dickens, Franz Kafka, Herman Melville, Harper Lee) to consider...