Summary

Malcolm notes that writers actually appreciate libel suits because they are a civilized mechanism that prevents displeased subjects from murdering them. She says the rhetoric of advocacy law and its attendant documents provide clients with a sense of total vindication and affirmation. Lawyers argue for their clients with an eloquence and thoroughness a client could never achieve on their own. Malcolm mentions her own experience with a lawsuit in which she read only the documents written in her defense. She notes it is impossible to see another person’s view of things in a lawsuit. The world of the lawsuit is the ideal world of good and bad. There are no ambiguous facts or compromises. She notes being sued by a character you have written in a book means you know your opponent intimately because you have studied them and because you have put...