Retconning Law

April 22, 2024 Retconning Law

I spent seven hours in England earlier this month, zooming to the “Literatures and Laws Online Symposium” at Bournemouth University. I had the pleasure of presenting an extremely condensed chapter from Nat Goldberg’s and my forthcoming book, Revising Reality. Fifteen minutes is tight, but I covered the basics of how the term “retcon” has recently entered the U.S. legal system and how the concept of retconning has always existed in it. In other words, “Rectonning Law” retcons retconning into law.

Instead of writing my talk, I’m uploading my slides — which I think is the same thing. To me, the challenge of presentation slides is streamlining them to the sweet spot of succinct and sufficient: a viewer should almost be able to follow the whole argument without the distraction of my yammering voice. Almost. In this case, let me explain the color coding: retcons are in green, and rejects (of retcons) are in red. Sequels are also in red because retcons are often rejected because they’re read as sequels.

The virtual Q&A is ongoing, so contact me anytime.