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35 Liverpool L. Rev. 1 (2014)

handle is hein.journals/lvplr35 and id is 1 raw text is: Liverpool Law Rev (2014) 35:1-6 DOI 10.1007/s10991-013-9147-7 Introduction to the Special Issue on Law and Literature Julia J. A. Shaw Published online: 18 December 2013 © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 The aesthetic dimension remains an essential component, the raw material, of human experience. Since the primary mode of human interaction is by means of spoken and written language, it is through the application of narrative and 'narrative imagination' that our lives can have meaning. If we accept Oscar Wilde's claim in The Decay of Lying that 'life imitates art', then by appealing to the literary imagination it is also possible to appreciate and empathise with the experiences of others; people of whom we have no firsthand knowledge and whose lives are far removed from our own (Wilde 2010). In an era of disillusionment legal scholarship often takes an aesthetic turn, manifesting a yearning for the beautiful which belongs to the imagery of liberation. It represents free play of the imagination and assists in our understanding of the world through our senses, as alternately beautiful and grotesque, alluring and repellent. The communicative power of this sensory information allows for richer intellectual and emotional engagement with objects and concepts as they really are, according to their sensible essence. Without the influence of aesthetics in the formation of legal concepts, law would lose most of its persuasive force. Whereas by engaging with law through the liberal arts, we become more conscious of a multiplicity of dissident perspectives and sensuous content from which to inform our individual life choices and importantly influence our capacity for moral judgment. This proposition can be understood in semiotic terms on the basis that we respond to images and experiences which resonate with an individual or shared history of particular cultural traditions and practices. Our sensate relation to these symbols and metaphors constitutes a productive force which, in relation to the legal community, can be understood as underpinning the formation of legal principle and judgment. The persuasive influence of those aesthetic forms which rely on narrative and imagery-such as J. J. A. Shaw (E) School of Law, De Montfort University, Leicester LEl 9BH, UK e-mail: jshaw@dmu.ac.uk I Springer

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