Relazione introduttiva

George Fletcher, the prominent American legal scholar, the master of comparative and transnational law is also author of literary work, a novel depicting the academic and personal experiences of a professor in a law school. Just this feature gives some hints on the ways law and literature can interact, as well developed and theorized by the “Law and Literature” movement, as well as in the project “Justice and Literature” the author of the essay has been directing for many years. Just the title of the novel – The Bond – stirs several associations with the ability of Fletcher to bond together different legal cultures and categories, displaying how the «only connect» motto resounding in a novel of E.M. Forster is so vital for law scholars and practitioners as well. From this noteworthy “Life in seven languages” (as a work on Fletcher’s own legal and family life is titled) the essay draws some teachings and remarks for current Italian lawmakers, especially highlighting the need for them to take care, in theory and practice,of what is required to steer and actually effect application and enforcement of laws, especially criminal laws:, not contenting themselves with the mere drafting of legal texts easily amenable and quite palatable to popular demands.