Alison A. Chapman,
University of Alabama at Birmingham, has published The Legal Epic: Paradise Lost and the Early Modern Law with the University of
Chicago Press. From the publisher:The seventeenth century saw some of the most important jurisprudential changes in England’s history, yet the period has been largely overlooked in the rich field of literature and law. Helping to fill this gap, The Legal Epic is the first book to situate the great poet and polemicist John Milton at the center of late seventeenth-century legal history.
Alison A. Chapman argues that Milton’s Paradise Lost sits at the apex of the early modern period’s long fascination with law and judicial processes. Milton’s world saw law and religion as linked disciplines and thought therefore that in different ways, both law and religion should reflect the will of God. Throughout Paradise Lost, Milton invites his readers to judge actions using not only reason and conscience but also core principles of early modern jurisprudence. Law thus informs Milton’s attempt to “justify the ways of God to men” and points readers toward the types of legal justice that should prevail on earth.
Adding to the growing interest in the cultural history of law, The Legal Epic shows that England’s preeminent epic poem is also a sustained reflection on the role law plays in human society.
Praise for the book:
“This
is a terrific piece of scholarship. Chapman makes a very strong case for
Milton's intimate familiarity with English and Continental law; his commitment
to a natural law position that insisted upon the fundamental connection among
human law, right reason, and divine law; and the relevance of legal concepts
to Paradise Lost. The Legal Epic will
fundamentally change how we read Milton's poem.” –Debora K. Shuger
“Chapman’s
excellent study of Paradise Lost as a ‘legal epic’ raises the
bar. She defamiliarizes the poem by demonstrating just how much it is
interpenetrated by Milton’s self-confident and precise understanding of daily
legal practice. Urging us to remember that he was the son of a scrivener and the
brother of a judge, her book reveals a Milton whose profound sense of
contingency and God’s grace never obscures his imaginative engagement with the
intricacies of the law.” –Paul Stevens
“More
deeply than any other study, The Legal Epic illuminates the
ways Milton creatively employs and transforms the language and principles of
early modern law in Paradise Lost. Chapman persuasively shows
that understanding Milton’s use of legal language and concepts in relation to
theology is crucial to understanding his poetic theodicy. This
interdisciplinary book is a major contribution to Milton studies and to the
study of early modern literature and law. An outstanding achievement.” –David
Loewenstein
Further
details are available here.
