Crime Control as Drama

TLDR: In this article, the authors suggest five criteria for what they would tentatively classify as "great pieces for literature" within the tradition of western art, based on the theory of natural law.

Abstract: First things first: let us establish some criteria for this critique. I will suggest five criteria, for what I would tentatively classify as "great pieces for literature" within the tradition of western art. To keep inside this tradition is clearly an ethnocentric limitation. A Hindu tradition might find other criteria useful. And even within a western tradition there is little agreement on criteria for evaluation of art. Some would deny the possibility of establishing any such criteria. Some would tie it to popular opinions expressed through sales figures or counts of published reviews. But some would say there were some basic rules to be used, a platform of"natural law" within the literary critique. There are striking similarities between the discussions carried out within the theory of literature and the theory of law in the search for a basis for evaluation of drama as well as crime. For an interesting Danish attempt to create order out of anarchy in the critique, see Sven Moller Kristensen.2 An English classic is by Wellek and Warren.3 My position is close to a natural law positionat least within the theory of literature.