LIT-342 Seminar: Written on the Wall: 20th- and 21st-Century American Prison Writing

The writing of the men and women inside the American prison system constitutes a kind of shadow canon to that of better-known literary artists. We will read broadly in 20th- and 21st-century American prison writing, asking questions about the generic coherence, social and moral import of incarcerated people’s non-fiction, fiction and poetry. Authors will include Jack London, George Jackson, Assata Shakur, and citizens serving time today. Students who are twenty-one or older will visit a book group inside a state prison.

Maximum Enrollment

Seminar (12)

(Social Structural and Institutional Hierarchies, Seminar.)

Credits

1

Cross Listed Courses

AMST-342

Prerequisite

one 200-level course in literature.

Offered

Fall

Notes

(History or SSIH). Not open to first-years. Does not fulfill the senior seminar requirement for ENGL or LIT concentration.