The intersection of law and literature remains a vital subject of study in contemporary culture. In December 2000 a high school student in eastern Ontario, who had been bullied by his classmates, read out a creative writing assignment in which the protagonist made preparations for bombing his school. The student was placed in juvenile detention for thirty-four days, and was finally charged with making threats. Leading Canadian writers, including Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje, protested on his behalf, arguing that his imprisonment violated freedom of expression. The case was controversial, with the school and police denying that the boy's story was the cause of his detention. Rather, they argued, he had made verbal threats against fellow students. However, a police search found no weapons or explosives at his home, and the charges against him were dropped. Other students were charged with assaulting him.

Apart from its freedom of speech issue, the story illustrates how writing may occupy a contested territory, how it may be subject to the jurisdiction of both literature and law. Using the terminology of Wittgenstein discussed in our Introduction, we could say that the authorities in the case failed to identify the kinds of sentences or the ‘language-game’ performed in the student's text, mistaking an imaginative scenario for a criminal intention. The episode suggests the need for greater recognition of the role of literary activity in our cultural conversation.