Shifting the blame
Subtitle: literature, law, and the theory of accidents in nineteenth-century America
By: Nan Goodman.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Princeton
Language: eng
Number of pages: 198
Subjects: American literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism; Accidents in literature; Accident law -- United States -- History -- 19th century; Legal stories, American -- History and criticism; Law and literature -- History -- 19th century; Negligence in literature; Responsibility in literature; Blame in literature
Description: Drawing on legal cases, legal debates, and fiction including works by James Fenimore Cooper, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, and Charles Chesnutt, Nan Goodman investigates changing notions of responsibility and agency in nineteenth-century America. By looking at accidents and accident law in the industrializing society, Goodman shows how courts moved away from the doctrine of strict liability to a new notion of liability that emphasized fault and negligence.

Shifting the Blame reveals the pervasive impact of this radically new theory of responsibility in understandings of industrial hazards, in manufacturing dangers, and in the stories that were told and retold about accidents.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [171]-191) and index.