Agaat's Law. Reflections on Law and Literature with Reference to Marlene Van Niekerk's novel Agaat

Van der Walt, J. (2009) Agaat's Law. Reflections on Law and Literature with Reference to Marlene Van Niekerk's novel Agaat. South African Law Journal, 126(4), pp. 695-739.

Abstract

This essay explores the relation between law and literature from the literary Marxist position that Jean-Luc Nancy develops in his work La Communauté Désoeuvrée. It does so with specific reference to Marlene van Niekerk’s novel Agaat and to the Lacanian problematic of imaginary selves caught up in the confines of their speculative or mirroring images of others. It takes leave of approaches to law and literature studies such as Martha Nussbaum’s in terms of which literature can be invoked to edify or improve the law. It argues that law and literature can both benefit from a comparative exchange, provided this exchange takes seriously the fundamental and irreducible tension and hiatus between characteristically “legal” and characteristically “literary” discourses.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Van der Walt, Prof Johan
• Authors: Van der Walt, J.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Law
• Journal Name: South African Law Journal
• Journal Abbr.: SALJ
• Publisher: Juta
• ISSN: 0038-2388
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2009, Juta
• First Published: First published in South African Law Journal 126(4): 695-739
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with permission of the publisher.