Heggins Bryant, Nathaniel
(2014)
WORKING IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST: THE PRODUCTIVE INTELLECTUAL LABOR OF US PRISON WRITERS, 1929-2007.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
This dissertation seeks to revise and expand notions of US prison writing beyond the normative categories of “literature” by examining the compositional and rhetorical efforts of US prison writers working from 1929 to 2007. I situate certain modes, discourses, and texts produced by prisoners—scientific research, jailhouse legal work, letter-writing, revolutionary polemic, and testimonial writing—within a larger rubric of what I call “productive intellectual labor.” The project draws on Marxist debates to define each part of that term and employs the work of Michel Foucault to contextualize prevailing historical notions regarding penal labor, the evolution of punishment, and discursive trends of those writing back to power. I argue that all these forms of writing are legitimate forms of intellectual labor, produced in an institution historically marked by convict illiteracy and under-education on the one hand and powerful administrative and state discourses on the other. I situate this writing to the other kinds of labor, such as manual and industrial work, that are routinely undertaken by prisoners; I do so to consider the effects of mandatory, coercive prison-labor schemes and the value derived from autonomously assumed labor that is experienced by imprisoned intellectual laborers. The project shows how the work of three 20th century prison writers (Robert Stroud, Caryl Chessman, and George Jackson) and the anthologies Couldn’t Keep it to Myself and I’ll Fly Away (published by women prison writers incarcerated at York Correctional Institution in Connecticut) demonstrate the many ways that prisoners use non-literary forms of writing to produce counter-narratives and discourses about themselves; fight against the oppressive, stultifying effects of incarceration; and critique administrative and state penal practices, among many other motives for writing.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
| Creators | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Heggins Bryant, Nathaniel | nzh2@pitt.edu | NZH2 | |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
18 September 2014 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
19 May 2014 |
| Approval Date: |
18 September 2014 |
| Submission Date: |
30 May 2014 |
| Access Restriction: |
5 year -- Restrict access to University of Pittsburgh for a period of 5 years. |
| Number of Pages: |
383 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > English |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
US Prison Writing, Penal Labor, Intellectual Labor, Robert Stroud, Caryl Chessman, George Jackson |
| Date Deposited: |
18 Sep 2014 19:58 |
| Last Modified: |
18 Sep 2019 05:15 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/21722 |
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