Description
Book SynopsisWhat kinds of stories win cases, and why? Drawing on trial transcripts and appellate court opinions in civil adultery cases, and on literary examples from Mark Twain, E.D.E.N Southworth, Harriet Beecher Stowe and others, Laura Korobkin sheds new light on the intersections of gender, genre, law and story.
Trade ReviewRecommended... for its impressive clarity, incisive analysis, mastery of sources, and timeliness. -- E. Nettels, College of William and Mary Choice In the course of this interesting mix of methodologies and historical time periods, Korobkin makes fascinating suggestions about the impacts of women's sentimental (domestic) fiction on popular and legal rhetoric of the time. College English
Table of ContentsIntroduction and Historical Foundation Prologue: Telling Stories in the Courtroom Criminal Conversation and the Conversational Process of the Law The Transformative Magic of Legal Fictions: The Suppression of Sex in Early English Civil Adultery Cases Theodore Tilton v. Henry Ward Beecher: Criminal Conversation, 1875 Prologue: Crisis of Confidence in the Courtroom The Maintenance of Mutual Confidence: Sentimental Strategies at the Beecher-Tilton Trial Silent Woman, Speaking Fiction: The "ministry of Catherine Gaunt" at the Beecher-Tilton Trial Female-Plaintiff Criminal Conversation Cases: Rewriting the Law's Story of Marriage Prologue: Four Cases Rethinking the Law's Story of Marriage: The Bonds of Sentiment Consequences of Change: The Sexually Passive Husband and the Erotically Autonomous Wife
