Analysing the Intersection between Law and Creative Writing: An Analysis of Petina Gappah’s Literary Writing Prose

Abstract

This study is an analytical transposition of law and creative writing. The article starts by exposing how the intersection is experienced and positioned. The two fields are based on rhetoric. Rhetoric serves as the foundation for both forensic argument and creative writing, and the dynamic relationships between the two fields also leave many other traces, as we can see in the dramatic performances that connect judges and attorneys to actors, the performative effects of literary language, jurists’ and literary critics’ shared concerns with interpretation, demonstration, and proof, and the function of narrative schemas as templates. There are more similarities between legal scripts and creative writing than there are conflicts. Petina Gappah is someone who has managed well in the two fields, making her writings a marvel to both lay readers and those with a law background. The short stories and novels discussed in the article are embedded in the African culture and legal frameworks of reality. The short story “In the Matter between Goto and Goto” is a thought-provoking depiction of divorce in the Zimbabwean context. The story illustrates the conflicts between the customary and the legal face of marriage. The article picks and analyses three major themes emerging from this story, which are, culture and the law, the issue of gender and justice, and lastly, the limits of law in a legal system.