Tuesday, 3 October 2017

A Definitive List Of The Best Fictional Prison Book

By Debra Wood


Literature is an all encompassing form of writing and the arts that has touched on innumerable subject matters. Anything from science, philosophy, fine arts, religion, mathematics, medicine, and other topics has been transformed by gifted individuals into written or literary formats. A genre that has gained a cult following since its initial conceptualization is prison literature. It involves books written by people in jail or stories revolving around what happened in inside one.

Furthermore, this includes authors who were trapped in prisons, jails, or even house arrest. The contents of their writing may be about the establishment they are trapped in like their musings and experiences. It could also be anything at all, as long as it was coincidentally written in jail. In line with this, stated below is a definitive list of the best Fictional Prison Book.

Fyodor Dostoevsky is a well established author who is the leading founders of a movement called Realism. A popular work of fiction that he wrote that falls under this category is titled The House of the Dead. The story focuses on various convicts who are residing in a prison camp in Siberia. It contained many references to past events and actual facts, related to philosophy and politics.

A trending online streaming series is called Orange is the New Black, often shortened into OITNB. It recounts the experiences and musings of Piper Kerman who was imprisoned after facing trial. Her case revolved around drug trafficking and laundering money. The novel is actually a memoir by a woman of the same name.

Arthur Koestler wrote Darkness at Noon, which focused on the real life event of Moscow show trials. Koestler is a Hungarian author and critic regarded this particular book as his best one yet. Even though he neither confirmed or denied it, the content was an obvious reference to the tragedies that took place in that event, but did not state any names or locations.

Margaret Atwood authored Alias Grace, published during the mid nineties. After its initial release, it went on to become enlisted and subsequently won a few awards. The plot revolve around the murders that took place in eighteen forty three, where Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper named Nancy Montgomery were killed. The culprits were two servants working for Thomas himself who conspired to do it together.

Even though it was regarded more as a science fiction tale, it still contained plenty of jail literature influence. Such is the work of Jack London on The Star Rover whose main character is Darell. Darell works as a university professor until he faces trial for murder. When he loses, he is then tortured by guards by making him wear a jacket so tight it crushed his viscera. To forget the pain he felt, he often performed astral projection to escape his reality.

Jean Genet is a French novelist and political activist who is the mastermind behind Our Lady of the Flowers. Its prose relies heavily on poetic influences and takes into account the journey of a man who goes travels through the Parisian underworld. Majority of its characters are homosexuals, who the main character meets while living on the outskirts of conventional society.

Nawal El Saadawi is a prominent figure in feminism and art forms that focus on this subject matter. A popular novel she wrote about it is Memoirs from the Women Prison. It contained some firsthand witness accounts from different people regarding the feminist movement and their struggle to break free from state violence and male white corporate oppression.




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