What is this
story all about? How is the lawyer in the story related to the larger
world in which he or she is trying to live?
What happens
to the lawyer in this story (and to you as the reader of the story)?
What does this
story have to say about the lives lawyers lead?
How does the
story speak to the life you are trying to live or want to live?
What kind of demands does this story make on the reader?
How is one
to read, seriously and critically, lawyer stories that are offered
to us as "fiction"? As a reader, what kind of skills do
you need to give meaning to these stories? (What does it mean to engage
in a meaningful reading of a text?) How can a story you dislike and
disapprove of be meaningful? How can a story be meaningful if you
"like" it and it confirms what you already know and believe
about yourself and your world?
How do we, or
can we, or should we, attempt to learn about ourselves as lawyers
from "fiction"? In what sense do fictional stories of lawyers
"educate" us as lawyers?
Of what significance
is it, to your response, that the authors of a "fictional"
work may or may not be a lawyer?
In what sense
are our own lives works of fiction?
What do you
bring to each of the stories as a reader that makes your reading meaningful?
Worthwhile? Hopeful? Instructive? Threatening? How does your
reading (and your understanding) of your own life and social relations
help (and hinder) your reading of these stories? [What You Bring With You]
Choose a story
you find difficult to read. Is it possible to learn something
about yourself as a reader from the difficulties you experience as a reader?
Is it possible
to read ourselves the way we read other "texts"? Is there
a connection between reading and self-knowledge?
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