The Law and the Line: The Literary Mirroring of a Paradigm

The essay deals with the topic of “border” in the light of the conceptual and etymological link between ideas of Law and Line. Starting from the mythological origins of Rome, passing through Kafka and Shakespeare, Defoe and Dostoyevsky, both the multiform and ancestral need of drawing juridical lines and the consequences of their overcoming are highlighted. The line, seen as both a territorial and a metaphorical border, as a boundary between “what is mine” from “what is yours,” as a separation between what is allowed and what is not, is described as a well-marked sign, reminding Kandinsky's paintings, but also as a concept sometimes indeterminate, especially when we consider certain “foggy issues” of the contemporary times, such as the proprietary relationship between a person and its body.