Course Description
Law-5932-83 Law & Literature: Ireland and Britain since 1890: 2 hours
This course will focus on several areas of law that have played an important role in regulating authors and their writings in Ireland and Britain since 1890. Each of these legal regimes -- chiefly, libel law, obscenity law, and copyright law -- will be explored in its own right and compared to corresponding present-day developments in the United States. The course will begin with the controversial Oscar Wilde trials of 1895. Wilde filed a complaint against the Marquis of Queensberry after Queensberry publicly posted a note accusing Wilde of being a "posing Somdomite" (sic). This phase will enable us to compare the treatment of (criminal) libel in 1890s Britain with current American approaches to libel and slander as causes of action, and to review recent developments in sodomy laws and due process in the US. We will go on to explore the impact of obscenity laws focusing on writings of various British and Irish authors, including D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis, and/or others. In the final segment, we will examine copyright and related intellectual property laws protecting authors' rights and regulating use of authors' works.
- Is a Perspective Course
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