FORGOTTEN PRECURSORS OF LAW AND LITERATURE IN THE UNITED STATES: THE HISTORICITY OF THE PARADIGMS OF LEGAL EPISTEMOLOGY

Abstract

Objective: It was possible to demonstrate that, contrary to what is often stated, the theme Law and Literature does not begin to be studied in the United States with the publication of The Legal Imagination (1973). We seek to demonstrate which epistemological paradigms were in force in certain periods in the American academies, responsible for allowing the approximations and distances between the two areas. We seek to problematize why some American authors are mentioned more frequently than others.

Methodology: We started with a literature review of texts written in English and empirical documentary analyzes from different sources such as books, articles, essays and texts published on websites.

Results: It was possible to identify the relations of law and literature in the beginning of the American republic, important for the construction of the national identity of that country; the emergence of logical positivism as a possible justification for the split between the two areas; and the permanence of authors who, before 1973, continued to write, with originality, on this interdisciplinary endeavor.

Contributions: Issues were raised about the forgetfulness of certain authors in the field, which helps to understand the historicity of law and literature, in particular, and the legal epistemology in general.