Includes bibliographical references (pages 269 - 291) and index.
Contents:
Autobiography and the problem with resistance : the conversion narrative in prison discourse and US prison life writing -- Conversion and the story of the US prison -- The treatment era : African American prison life writing and the prison conversion narrative in George Jackson's Soledad Brother and James Carr's Bad -- From the treatment era to the monster factory : Carl Panzram's and Jack Henry Abbott's anticonversion narratives and the dawn of mass incarceration -- Life writing in the contemporary carceral state : Writing My Wrongs, A Place to Stand, and the making of a "better human being" -- "Love is contraband in Hell" : women's prisons, life writings, and discourses of sexuality in Assata and An American Radical -- "These women, like myself" : Becoming Ms. Burton and rereading prison life writing in a time of crisis.
Summary:
"The first full-length study of prison life writing, this book shows how the autobiographical literature of incarcerated people is consistently based on a conversion narrative, the same narrative that underpins prison rehabilitation. By demonstrating how prison life writing interlocks with institutional power, the book challenges conventional preconceptions about writing behind bars. And yet, imprisoned people often use the conversion narrative like they repurpose other objects in prison: much like the radio motor retooled into a tattoo gun, the conversion narrative is often redefined to serve subversive purposes like questioning the supposed emancipatory role of prison writing, critiquing white supremacy, and reconfiguring what can be said in autobiographical discourse. An interdisciplinary work that brings life writing scholarship into conversation with prison studies and law and literature studies, Prison Life Writing theorizes how life writing works in prison, explains literature's complicated entanglements with institutional power, and demonstrates the political and aesthetic innovations of one of America's most controversial literary genres."-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.