Communities, Texts, and Law: Reflections on the Law and Literature Movement

Abstract

How do we form communities? How might we form better ones? What is the role of law in that process? In a recent series of books and articles, James Boyd White, arguably the modern law and literature movement's founder, has put forward distinctively literary answers to these questions. Perhaps because of the fluidity of the humanities, White's account of the nature of community is not nearly as axiomatic to the law and literature movement as is Posner's depiction of the "individual" to legal economists. Nevertheless, White's conception is increasingly representative of the literary- legalist's world view. Furthermore, with the exception of Richard Weisberg, White has very little competition within the movement itself. This article explores and criticizes that vision. Second, it puts forward an alternative account of how we form communities, how we might form better ones, and how law would function within them.