NCJ Number
134059
Date Published
1990
Length
285 pages
Annotation
This book looks at themes that pervade prison literature, issues in prison writing that involve telling a particular kind of story, and the link between prison writing and everyday concerns.
Abstract
Prison writing normally entails a rethinking of life's experiences and an examination of the language through which lives are expressed. Prison writing examines relationships among prisoners, guards, and the outside world. It reflects on the nature of power, violence, fear, and the survival and elimination of others. The author leans heavily toward writers who were incarcerated for writing and toward intellectuals who were imprisoned for political or religious reasons. He attempts to understand the imprisoned intellectual as writing not only in a margin of the society that imprisons, but also in a margin of the prison itself. In addition, he looks at the writer who operates directly out of the prison culture and whose messages and letters are often forgotten, lost, or destroyed. The relation between prison writers and prison and between writers and society is discussed in depth. The author points out that prison writing is essentially about violence. An appendix contains biographical outlines of prison writers mentioned most frequently in the text. References and notes