How do we identify an owner? How does a citizen act? Where does the private end and the public begin? What do Americans dream about when we dream? The stories we tell about the experience of being Americans bolster and undermine particular legal arguments and conclusions. In the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, novels were an important source of these narratives. And over the last century movies, television and other forms of visual storytelling have recycled these stock narratives countless times. In this interdisciplinary seminar, a novel or story is paired with a contemporary legal text (and often historical material for context) each week. These pairings track the construction of personal identity, community stability, and even linguistic meaning across shifting legal understandings of citizenship, property, contract, privacy, and the relationship between the individual and the state. Reading and writing with an increased awareness of the background narratives implicit in our legal arguments is among the goals of the course. The writers whose work we will consider include James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, Henry James, William Faulkner, Nella Larsen, John Okada, Katherine Anne Porter and Sherman Alexie. Elements used in grading: Class participation, attendance, and written assignments. Automatic grading penalty waived for writers. For Research "R" credit, students may petition to complete one long paper based on independent research with consent of the instructor.
3 units · Law Honors/Pass/Restrd Cr/Fail
How do we identify an owner? How does a citizen act? Where does the private end and the public begin? What do Americans dream about when we dream? The stories we tell about the experience of being Americans bolster and undermine particular legal arguments and conclusions. In the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, novels were an important source of these narratives. And over the last century movies, television and other forms of visual storytelling have recycled these stock narratives countless times. In this interdisciplinary seminar, a novel or story is paired with a contemporary legal text (and often historical material for context) each week. These pairings track the construction of personal identity, community stability, and even linguistic meaning across shifting legal understandings of citizenship, property, contract, privacy, and the relationship between the individual and the state. Reading and writing with an increased awareness of the background narratives implicit in our legal arguments is among the goals of the course. The writers whose work we will consider include James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, Henry James, William Faulkner, Nella Larsen, John Okada, Katherine Anne Porter and Sherman Alexie. Elements used in grading: Class participation, attendance, and written assignments. Automatic grading penalty waived for writers. For Research "R" credit, students may petition to complete one long paper based on independent research with consent of the instructor.
Offered in Autumn 2026 at Stanford University.