Bandes on The Sense of an Ending @BandesSusan @DePaulLaw

Susan A. Bandes, DePaul University College of Law, has published The Sense of an Ending at 73 DePaul Law Review 751 (2024).

One of the delights of shows like HBO's Succession is the virtual communal watch party they create, replete with competing interpretations and passionate predictions about plot development. These conversations reveal some enduring truths about the power of narrative expectations, one of which is the tremendous importance we place on the delivery of a satisfying ending. As the influential literary scholar Frank Kermode argued, “we cannot be denied an end, but it must be the right kind of ending.” One of the fascinating aspects of Succession was the uncertainty about what kind of ending would be satisfying. This uncertainty seems closely tied to the difficulty in pinning down the genre to which Succession belonged. This Essay will first examine the notion of a satisfying ending as it applies to Succession. It will argue that although Succession’s ending was, in some ways, letter-perfect, it was not—and could not be—emotionally satisfying. The emotionally impoverished ending was fitting, but dispiriting, and probably unavoidable given the particular generic traditions upon which Succession drew. The Essay will then pose the question: What lessons can the notion of narrative closure—the need for a satisfying ending—convey about legal proceedings? We have grown accustomed to thinking about law as storytelling, but what insights can narrative theory impart about how law stories ought to end? In legal terms, to determine what constitutes a legally satisfying end point, we first must determine what the proceeding is meant to accomplish. Legal finality may not track literary closure or psychological “closure;” and it is important to distinguish the dictates of the legal system from the impulses that drive finality and closure in other contexts. I will illustrate this point with examples from death penalty jurisprudence, in which the question of an ending is unavoidable and takes several forms: finality of judgment, the notion of “closure” for bereaved family members, and the loss of life.

Download the essay from SSRN at the link.

Bandes on The Sense of an Ending @BandesSusan @DePaulLaw

Susan A. Bandes, DePaul University College of Law, has published The Sense of an Ending at 73 DePaul Law Review 751 (2024). Here is the abstract.

One of the delights of shows like HBO's Succession is the virtual communal watch party they create, replete with competing interpretations and passionate predictions about plot development. These conversations reveal some enduring truths about the power of narrative expectations, one of which is the tremendous importance we place on the delivery of a satisfying ending. As the influential literary scholar Frank Kermode argued, “we cannot be denied an end, but it must be the right kind of ending.” One of the fascinating aspects of Succession was the uncertainty about what kind of ending would be satisfying. This uncertainty seems closely tied to the difficulty in pinning down the genre to which Succession belonged. This Essay will first examine the notion of a satisfying ending as it applies to Succession. It will argue that although Succession’s ending was, in some ways, letter-perfect, it was not—and could not be—emotionally satisfying. The emotionally impoverished ending was fitting, but dispiriting, and probably unavoidable given the particular generic traditions upon which Succession drew. The Essay will then pose the question: What lessons can the notion of narrative closure—the need for a satisfying ending—convey about legal proceedings? We have grown accustomed to thinking about law as storytelling, but what insights can narrative theory impart about how law stories ought to end? In legal terms, to determine what constitutes a legally satisfying end point, we first must determine what the proceeding is meant to accomplish. Legal finality may not track literary closure or psychological “closure;” and it is important to distinguish the dictates of the legal system from the impulses that drive finality and closure in other contexts. I will illustrate this point with examples from death penalty jurisprudence, in which the question of an ending is unavoidable and takes several forms: finality of judgment, the notion of “closure” for bereaved family members, and the loss of life.

Download the essay from SSRN at the link.

CFP: Symposium on HBO's Succession @DePaulLaw @BandesSusan

From Professor Susan Bandes, DePaul College of Law:

Call for Papers

 

The DePaul Law Review will devote the third issue of its 73rd volume (slated for publication in Spring 2024) to a Symposium addressing the Emmy-winning scripted drama Succession from a legal and pedagogical point of view. The aim of this special issue is to collect in one place the insights of a variety of faculty members with different legal subject-matter expertise, as a resource for all who are interested in the use of this award-winning work for the teaching, practice, and study of law. The DePaul Law Review has already secured the participation of a number of distinguished scholars. 

      The DePaul Law Review invites proposals from others for two to four additional contributions to be included in this special issue. Proposals for a contribution of between 5,000 and 10,000 words are welcome from all who teach any area of law. (The print symposium will be accompanied by simultaneous online publication with live hyperlinks, allowing readers to access video links if the author desires).

      Potential contributions to the special issue might take a variety of forms. For example, these essays might:

• explore the legal implications of various plotlines through a variety of doctrinal lenses (e.g., mergers and acquisitions, wills and trusts, corporate law, employment law, criminal law).
• share classroom techniques for using Succession, and its scenarios or characters, in law teaching.  
• consider how matters such as race, gender, sexual orientation, and class are represented on Succession, or how the show depicts law, law enforcement, and lawyers. 
• draw on literary techniques to illuminate (or critique) Succession's approach to the myriad legal issues it presents.

Interested individuals should send an abstract outlining the topic and substance of their proposed contribution to the DePaul Law Review by email to Lizzie Carroll, Managing Editor of Lead Articles at lawreviewdepaul@yahoo.com, or to Prof. Susan Bandes, sbandes@depaul.edu, or Visiting Professor Diane Klein, dklein14@depaul.edu.  Abstracts (of 250 words at most) should be submitted by April 30, 2023. Proposals will be reviewed and invitations issued by June 1, 2023. Initial drafts will be due August 15, 2023, with final drafts due by October 1, 2023.