The captive voice: Writing within restriction.
Item
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Title
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The captive voice: Writing within restriction.
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Identifier
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AAI9521305
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identifier
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9521305
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Creator
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Porterfield, Daniel Ryan.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Gerhard Joseph
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Date
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1995
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, American | Literature, Modern
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Abstract
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"The Captive Voice: Writing within Restriction" argues that our understanding of many literary works is enhanced when we discern how they emerge from, contest, and/or qualify the conditions of captivity within which they were composed. The dissertation examines this dynamic in the writing of two captive groups: contemporary prisoners (primarily Americans) and nineteenth-century African Americans, who faced evolving forms of oppression before and after the Civil War.;The first three chapters show how three rhetorical practices employed by contemporary prisoners and ex-prisoners are related to the authors' captivity within both the penal system (including the prison) and a mainstream society that holds negative stereotypes of the "criminal." These practices are the attempts by writers to create textual presences of the prison, to define themselves through credibility-enhancing personae, and to resist prison disciplinary practices through the writing of poetry. Some of the authors considered include Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, Chester Himes, George Jackson, Malcolm Braly, Nathan Heard, Jack Henry Abbott, Jean Harris, Patricia McConnel, Velma Barfield, Albert Race Sample, and a range of contemporary poets.;Chapter Four shows how, in texts by nineteenth-century African Americans, three different forms of narrative dialogue reflect and respond to social and ideological confinement experienced by the authors. Chapter Five argues that the ever-evolving experience of oppression led African American authors to view the published text not as a sacrosanct monument to Platonic truth or beauty, but as a living resource to be published, revised strategically, and re-published to benefit the race as a whole. Some of the texts considered in Chapters Four and Five include those authored by Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Wilson, William Wells Brown, Josiah Henson, and David Walker.;In general, the dissertation argues that the works of captive writers gain power and beauty when they are understood in the context of the authors' everyday lives. Also, it argues that captivity does not always or only stifle creative expression, but also can inspire, hone, and direct it.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
