LAW5115 Speaking Truth to Power: Rhetoric, Comedy, Advocacy

What is it to be a good advocate? How, in particular, can an advocate speak to someone who does not want to listen? This course investigates the strategies that can be deployed to ‘speak truth to power’, i.e., to communicate with someone in a position of superiority. The course draws on the rhetorical tradition, looking back at the Ancient Greeks and Romans, as well literary strategies, especially comedy, which often finds ingenious ways to speak what cannot be spoken.