Prison Life Writing is the first full-length study of one of the
most controversial genres in American literature. By exploring the
complicated relationship between life writing and institutional power,
this book reveals the overlooked aesthetic innovations of incarcerated
people and the surprising literary roots of the U.S. prison system.
Simon Rolston observes that the autobiographical work of incarcerated
people is based on a conversion narrative, a story arc that underpins
the concept of prison rehabilitation and that sometimes serves the
interests of the prison system, rather than those on the inside. Yet
many imprisoned people rework the conversion narrative the way they
repurpose other objects in prison. Like a radio motor retooled into a
tattoo gun, the conversion narrative has been redefined by some authors
for subversive purposes, including questioning the ostensible
emancipatory role of prison writing, critiquing white supremacy, and
broadly reimagining 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 fascinating literary genres.