Doing Time: 25 Years of Prison Writing (A PEN American Center Prize Anthology) [Paperback]

Bell Gale Chevigny (Author), Sister Helen Prejean (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1559705140 | ISBN-13: 978-1559705141 | Publication Date: March 8, 2000

""Doing time.' For the prison writers whose work is included in this anthology, it means more than serving a sentence; it means staying alive and sane, preserving dignity, reinventing oneself, and somehow retaining one's humanity.

For the last quarter century the prestigious writers' organization PEN has sponsored a contest for writers behind bars to help prisoners face these challenges. Bell Chevigny, a writer herself and a former prison teacher, has selected the best of these submissions to create Doing Time-a vital work, demonstrating that prison writing is a vibrant part of American literature.

The fifty-one prisoners contributing to this volume deliver in singular voices surprising tales, lyrics, and dispatches from an alien world covering the life span of imprisonment, from terrifying initiations to poignant friendships, from confrontations with family to death row, and sometimes share extraordinary breakthroughs. With 1.8 million men and women-roughly the population of Houston-in American jails and prisons, we must listen to "this small country of throwaway people," in Prejean's words. Doing Time frees them from their sentence of silence. We owe it to ourselves to listen to their voices."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Since 1973, PEN has sponsored an annual literary competition for prisoners. This anthology, selected from roughly 1700 submissions, showcases efforts that range widely in form, subject matter and quality. In a foreword, Sister Helen Prejean of Dead Man Walking fame touches on some of the questions readers will have: "Watch for the self-serving subtext. When your heart is moved, can you trust it? When you feel for the writers of these words, are you being had?" The book is broken into thematic sections such as "Initiation," "Time and Its Terms," "Family" and "Death Row." Though Chevigny made an attempt to include more women writers, women make up only 7% of the prison population, so the collection is overwhelmingly male. Anthony LaBaarca Falcone's poem, "A Stranger," uses circus imagery to mourn the daughter's childhood he missed. David Wood's eerily memorable story, "Feathers on the Solar Wind," is a searing portrait in which AIDS prods a man to accept personal and spiritual responsibility. Not surprisingly, most of these stories, poems and essays lack polish. But even some of the roughest pieces are driven by an emotional power that gives the sense of spending time with people who are composing not just for pleasure but for high stakesAthe definition of a self, the confronting of personal demons, even redemption.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Prisoners have always writtenAon the walls of their cells, in journals, or on chits smuggled out by visitorsAbut their efforts have usually gone unnoticed. PEN is unique in that over the last 25 years it has collected and published short stories, poems, and essays written by prisoners across the country. This volume reprints the best of the lot. A few names are familiar, such as former Black Panther Kathy Boudin, but most are unknown. Not of first quality, but certainly of high amateur ranking, these works speak of the monotony of incarceration, the loss of outside contacts, and the longing for freedom. In her introduction, editor Chevigny (literature, SUNY at Purchase) discusses the changing face of prisons she has seen over the years and the therapeutic value of prison writing. The best selling point of this volume, however, is that, in a palatable way, it gives the reader a view of what it is like to be inside this strange and ominous world. Highly recommended.AFrances O. Sandiford, Green Haven Correctional Facility Lib., Stormville, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing (March 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559705140
• ISBN-13: 978-1559705141
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,149,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We should all read this book., June 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Doing Time: 25 Years of Prison Writing-A PEN American Center Prize Anthology (Hardcover)

We should all read this book, both because of what it says and because of how well it says it... I picked it up expecting to be moved by the stories the prisoners have to tell, but I wasn't expecting how great the work would be as literature. I'm not saying they're all saints, but if we're going to lock up so many people, and if we're going to vote for politicians who advocate tougher sentencing laws, then we have an obligation to know what happens behind bars, what people go through there. These writers bear powerful witness to a world most of us like to pretend doesn't exist.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heart stopping, March 28, 2003

By 

J. Rea (Sachse, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doing Time: 25 Years of Prison Writing (A PEN American Center Prize Anthology) (Paperback)

This compilation is an excellent example of the wasted potential that the US has sentenced to it's prisons. Within the covers of this book you will be brought to tears one moment then horrified a few moments later. You will be shown incredible human cruelty coupled with acts of caring and kindness. I was shocked at the depth of despair that these men and women experience.

I do not mean to say that the authors of these essays and poems should all be released from the penitentiary. Many of them deserve to be there. What I am saying is that everyone should read a book like this. Especially people involved in the judicial and law enforcement communities. We should educate and give hope to the men and women in our prisons. Because, as you will read in the book, a man without hope is a man who doesn't care anymore and a man who doesn't care anymore will do anything.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars society's inner voices, May 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Doing Time: 25 Years of Prison Writing-A PEN American Center Prize Anthology (Hardcover)

A diverse medley of voices from inside american prisons--sharp, clear and heart-wrenching. Tells us more about prisons than many of us are willing to hear. Some of the poems are especially strong.