Collecting Cases: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-century Visions of Society

Topics and questions:- Are the cases in a given collection put into dialogue with one another? Whattypes of commentaries or debates emerge from this dialogue?- Some cases appear in multiple collections. How are these treated differently indifferent contexts (nations, periods, genres, editorial venues, etc.) or fromdifferent perspectives (legal, medical, moral, historical, etc.)?- What selection criteria are used? What types of cases are included or excluded?- To what extent are the cases seen as exceptional or representative? If the case isrepresentative, what social values does it emblematize? If it is exceptional, whatdoes the anomaly suggest about the social norms?- What literary, narratological or rhetorical strategies are used in these texts toshape an image of society or to convey social values?- What types of emotional strategies are in these texts? How do they function toreinforce the social values put forth?- Do these collections draw a distinction between the past and the present? Howdo they position their own society vis-à-vis the past? Are the cases seen asrepresentative of a specific historical moment or as universal?- To what extent do these case collections contribute to the formation ortransformation of cultural memory?