One Sentence at a Time: A Brief Review of Prison Writings

June 10, 2015 · by JS Epstein | in The Writing Life | tagged " Marquis de Sade and Prison Writing, E.E. Cummings and Wartime Labor Camp, Jean Genet and Prison Writing, Martin Luther King Jr's Letter from Birmingham Jail, Oscar Wilde and "The Ballad of Reading Gaol", PEN Prison Writing Program, Piper Kerman and Orange Is the New Black, Prison Literature, Thoreau's Night in Jail and Civil Disobedience, Writing as Escape, Writing as Rehabilitation | 6 Comments

In the film adaptation of Michael Chabon’s book Wonder Boys, a creative writing professor quips about a budding student of his who has just been taken into police custody: “Between you and Officer Krupke, he can be the next Jean Genet. It’s been a long time since someone wrote a really good book in jail.” […]