Writing the Lawyers and Literature CourseJames R. Elkins
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Writing the Lawyers and Literature Course
James R. Elkins
Parables & Law School Stories
Parables
Try your hand at writing a law school parable. Or, you might try a Lawyers and Literature course parable. Or for that matter, just write a parable.
You might think of the parable as an introduction to your course paper; or, it might become an epilogue to your paper. The parable might be a little story about your venture in the known|unknown world of stories.
Your parable, and this is a real possibility, may end up being just another piece of junk, a piece of writing in which you find little of value. You may not be able to salvage anything from this writing exercise. If you find nothing in writing the parable that is salvageable, you might want to rethink how you go about learning from endeavors of this kind that you do not find immediately productive. [On the garbage we produce when we write, and why it might not be such a bad thing, see: Notes on Peter Elbow (notes from Peter Elbow's Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process (New York: Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 1998) that might actually help you get on with your writing).
Parable Influenced Writings
Mary Kay Buchmelter, "In the Beginning: Justice and Mercy," 8 (1) ALSA F. 4 (1984) [online text] [Buchmelter was a law student at West Virginia University College of Law when she wrote this essay.]
