Seminar announcement SoSe 2025: "Imagining World Order": International Law & Literature

In this seminar, we will study the relation between literature and international law by focusing on the different ways in which issues of international law are depicted in literary texts.

Rooted in the works of the American legal scholars John Henry Wigmore (1863–1943) and Benjamin Cardozo (1870–1938) from the early 20^th century,[1] the Law and Literature Movement has developed into an established field of research at many US-American universities and elsewhere. In general, the field of law and literature encompasses two complementary perspectives: Law in literature (how do literary texts address and critically explore legal issues?) and law as literature (analysis of law as a genre of literature using literary critical methodologies). In addition, research in this field also looks at the literary works created by trained lawyers (poet-jurists or “Dichterjurist*innen”) from a mainly biographical perspective.

This seminar will predominantly focus on the area of research of law in literature concerning matters of international public law. In general, literature may raise fundamental questions about legal systems and ideas on justice. Ever since ancient times, the great literary works have reflected upon issues of fundamental societal and therefore also legal concern, such as the distribution and (mis-)use of power, obedience and rebellion, wealth and poverty, law and justice, war and peace, or the rights of minorities and women. Literature can also provide lawyers and law students with valuable background knowledge about issues that present challenges to legal policy and regulation, and with intriguing hypothetical situations for testing legal principles. To explore these matters further, this seminar offers the opportunity to study classic and modern works of fiction that relate to general themes of international law.

Participating students will be required to read at least one of the novels listed below or of their choosing, and to write a concise analysis of its relation to the overarching themes of international law. Another option is to engage with the poet-jurist behind the novel(s) from a primarily biographical perspective. Possible research questions could include: What insights about law can be drawn from literature? How does literature portray, reflect and/or incorporate the law (both substantive and procedural), legal themes, legal analysis and/or legal institutions? What can literature tell us about the creation and implementation of international law, and the fora where international law is constructed, defended and contested? In how far can literary works inspire new legal developments? Regarding older works of fiction, are the thoughts and observations about the law still relevant, or even more so today than before, and why? And what about us: Will we become better international lawyers if we ground our professional expertise and personal well-being in literature?

The seminar will be held in English. The number of participants is restricted to 20 students. Participants may submit their theses in English or German. Prior knowledge on Law & Literature is not required. However, participants should have a general interest in fiction and enjoy engaging creatively with legal topics in literary texts.

POTENTIAL THEMATIC AREAS AND SUGGESTED WORKS OF FICTION

Thematic area I: Human rights, slavery, and race discrimination 

• Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
• Jakob Wassermann: Caspar Hauser oder Die Trägheit des Herzens (1908)
• W.E.B. DuBois: The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
• Isabel Allende: Island Beneath the Sea (2009)
• Toni Morrison: Beloved (1987)
• Jeffrey Eugenides: Middlesex (2002)
• Bijan Moini: Der Würfel (2019)

Thematic area II: War and peace / the Cold war / the „war against terror“ / reconciliation

• Heinrich von Kleist: Michael Kohlhaas (1808/1810)
• Henri Dunant: A Memory of Solferino (1862)
• Bertha von Suttner: Lay down your arms (1889)
• Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace (1867)
• Erich Maria Remarque: All quiet on the western front (1928)
• Albert Camus: The plague (1947)
• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Gulag Archipelago (1973)
• George Orwell: 1984 (1949)
• Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)
• Bernhard Schlink: The Reader (1995)
• Fridolin Schley: Die Verteidigung (2021)

Thematic area III: Climate change and ecological crises

• Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future (2020)
• Marc Elsberg:  °C – Celsius (2023)

Thematic area IV: The inner workings of international organizations

• Nora Bossong: Schutzzone (2019)
• Robert Menasse: Die Hauptstadt (2017) 

INTRODUCTORY READING SUGGESTIONS [available for download on OPAL]

General short introductions into the field of Law & Literature:

• Minda, Narratives of International Law and Literature after 9/11, ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law 11 (2005), pp. 435ff.
• Albrecht et al., Recht und Literatur – Ein interdisziplinärer Forschungsüberblick mit Werkstattbericht, GRZ 2021, pp. 120-130.
• Klimke, Recht & Literatur – Ein Plädoyer für mehr Schöne Literatur im Jurastudium, JURA 2016, pp. 1125ff.
• Schramm, Law and Literature, JA 2007, pp. 581ff.

Exemplary contributions to the field of Law in Literature:

• Baade, The Law of Frank Herbert’s Dune: Legal Culture between Cynicism, Earnestness and Futility, Law & Literature 35 (2023), pp. 247-277, available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1535685X.2022.2026038#abstract
• Many other contributions to the journal of Law & Literature, oftentimes available open access via: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rlal20 

Exemplary contribution to the research on poet-jurists:

• Schlink, Bernhard, Free or a Servant?, Law & Literature 29 (2017), pp. 11-20, available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1535685X.2016.1246918. 

ORGANISATIONAL NOTES 

The seminar will take place on 11-12 July, 2025 (the exact schedule depends on the final number of participants). 

A preliminary meeting will take place on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, at 9:20 a.m. (2^nd DS) in the following virtual conference room: Zoomlink tba

Only after the meeting will it be possible to sign up for a topic.

Registration:

Registration for the seminar via OPAL is possible from Wednesday, April 9, 2025, 10:15 a.m., until Sunday, April 13, 2025, 23:59 p.m. A waiting list is available.

Assignment of topics:

The assignment of topics begins on the same day, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, 10:30 a.m. Double allocation of topics is possible. The allocation ends on Sunday, April 13, 2025, 23:59 p.m.

OPAL course: https://bildungsportal.sachsen.de/opal/auth/RepositoryEntry/48581017605/CourseNode/1741750635563711009

EXPECTED PERFORMANCE

A detailed outline (no more than one to two pages!) of the paper must be submitted by Friday, May 16, 2025, at the latest to the following email address: romy.klimke@tu-dresden.de. Timely submission is mandatory for further participation in the seminar.

During the block seminar, the previous research findings and theses will be presented orally. The length of the presentation is approximately 20 minutes. Approximately 40 minutes are allowed for the subsequent discussion. You are also welcome to prepare questions and hypotheses for the subsequent group discussion. The oral presentation counts for 10% of the grade.

Participants must submit their seminar papers (20-22 pages, excluding table of contents and bibliography, Times New Roman, font size 12, line spacing 1.5, footnotes: font size 10, single spacing) as pdf-documents via email to PD Dr. habil. Romy Klimke (romy.klimke@tu-dresden.de) until August 30, 2025.   

[1] Cardozo, Law and Literature, The Yale Review, 1925, and Wigmore, A List of Legal Novels, Illinois Law Review, 1908.