Is law mankind's triumph over the vicious and chaotic state of nature? Or is law a product of power and self-interest? In this major work of cultural and legal theory, Paul Kahn argues that both views are aspects of a Judaeo-Christian legacy in which the virtues of law are always challenged by a love beyond law. Kahn offers a powerful new interpretation of Shakespeare's King Lear, reading it as a meditation on political psychology, on the demands that politics makes upon the soul. The play, he contends, juxtaposes the ...
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Is law mankind's triumph over the vicious and chaotic state of nature? Or is law a product of power and self-interest? In this major work of cultural and legal theory, Paul Kahn argues that both views are aspects of a Judaeo-Christian legacy in which the virtues of law are always challenged by a love beyond law. Kahn offers a powerful new interpretation of Shakespeare's King Lear, reading it as a meditation on political psychology, on the demands that politics makes upon the soul. The play, he contends, juxtaposes the necessities of love to those of the state, and finds only incommensurability. Neither law nor love can include the other, but neither can exist without the other. Law and Love: The Trials of King Lear shows us what interdisciplinary work can achieve. The book not only offers surprising new readings of all the major characters in the play; it also expands the horizons of literary studies by introducing the legal imagination. Kahn demonstrates that cultural studies must recognise law as a core element in the Western conception of self and community, and similarly that legal studies must include the broadest themes of Western culture.
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New. 0300078285. *** FREE UPGRADE to Courier/Priority Shipping Upon Request *** – – *** IN STOCK AND IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE FOR SHIPMENT-Flawless copy, brand new, pristine, never opened-203 pages. Book Description: "Offering a powerful new interpretation of Shakespeare's masterpiece, Kahn reads the play as a meditation on political psychology. King Lear, he argues, juxtaposes the necessities of love to those of the state and finds only incommensurability. Neither law nor love can include the other. This is an original, thorough, and clearly written interdisciplinary work that offers not only surprising new readings of all the major characters in the play, it also expands the horizons of literary studies by introducing the legal imagination. "--with a bonus offer--
