Reading for the Law: Jews, Women, and other Victorian Legal Fictions

This project focuses on questions of Victorian literature and law. It draws on legal and political history, the Victorian novel, theories of discipline and contract drawn from Bentham and Foucault, feminist and legal theory (in particular, new discussions of family law, contract, and equity), and contemporary film, including such texts as The Queen and The King’s Speech.  

The research partner would join me in researching questions of Victorian legal education and debates over women’s rights, the “Jewish disabilities,” and other legal reforms. She or he would also help review current scholarship in law and literature. 

The student should have a love of literature and a curiosity about cultural studies and the law, perhaps an interest in film studies as well, and skills in close reading and critical thinking. She or he would gain exposure to Victorian periodicals and Parliamentary debates and pamphlets, and also be immersed in Victorian fiction and contemporary narrative theory. This research would be of interest to anyone pursuing the study of major Victorian novelists, women writers and Victorian Jewish culture, and graduate work in law and literature, or a career in the law.