Dear reader, life is too short for crap books.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Blog Post of Justice!

Our Blogmistress, good citizen that she is, got up bright and early today to head down to the courthouse for jury duty. Most people I know approach the prospect of sitting on a jury with the kind of dread that is usually reserved for watching movies starring Mariah Carey, but not Our Heroine, who has seen 12 Angry Men more times than is probably healthy.

This got me thinking about novels about trials, and I thought I'd do a quick post of "Five Great Novels About Trials" or something. However, all I could come up with was Crime and Punishment (which isn't really about the trial), The Stranger (ditto), Milan Kundera's The Joke (kind of a stretch), In Cold Blood (not really a novel, not really about the trial) and of course To Kill a Mockingbird.*

So in lieu of that, I'll just quote this excellent passage from Ms. Lee's excellent novel and ask for suggestions of trial novels. Thoughts?

"The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is."

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* John Grisham novels do not count. I said "Great" novels, and the Grish's books have always struck me as lawyer-porn for guys who took the bar instead of getting their P.I. license or becoming a biker or a shrimp boat captain or some such. Guys who spend a lot of time sitting on their back deck, drink in hand, wondering if and when they got soft, and where it all went wrong.**
** Lest my lawyer friends and relations take this amiss, I should point out the same midlife-crisis fantasy subgenre exists for academics: instead of getting involved with shadowy conspiracies and seedy Lower Alabama underworlds, the protagonists get involved with a grad student or a local pottery artist, or maybe the Dean's wife. Being the people in charge of such things, these books get to count as "literature" while Grish & Co. do not. It's what we get to make up for not making the big bucks.

10 comments:

Comrade Dave said...

The only time I ever got called for jury duty was the month after I moved full time to Madison.

Of course, it was for the Cuyahoga County Court System in Ohio, so I didn't have to go.

notarysojack said...

"The Caine Mutiny" comes to mind, as does "Inherit the Wind," though that was a play that was eventually published and doesn't qualify as a novel. I recall it being a pretty good read, however.

notarysojack said...

"Witness for the Prosecution" is another one.

Brady said...

Excellent. I have nothing to read right now that isn't work related.

Although maybe I've read WftP. Heck, I should start making a list.

And Dave, your lack of civic vigor has been noted.

notarysojack said...

"The Crucible."

Brady said...

Does a witch trial count? I guess if they ever did, today would be the day.

Comrade Dave said...

Hey, not saying I wouldn't have gone had I been called in Madison. It's just that Madison to Cleveland everyday would be a hell of a commute.

mary_m said...

When I taught 11th grade, I made my kids read The Crucible in lieu of The Scarlet Letter.

Because nobody should have to read The Scarlet Letter.

And dang it, I wish it was a heat wave in August because I didn't watch 12 Angry Men this year, and I can only watch it during heat waves.

Anonymous said...

Trollope wrote several excellent novels with trials as the central theme.

Anonymous said...

What about all 96 Perry Mason novels?