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Reading Between the Bars: Literature in, of, and from the Prison

ENGL 295.601
instructor(s):
W 6-9

The prison contains, within its imagined walls, a bewildering array of associations; it is a place of both isolation and violation, correction and corruption, tedium and terror, political protest and sociopathy. In this course students will analyze a number of texts that deal with prisoners and imprisonment, including films, sound recordings, fiction, essays, and letters. Authors may include Melville, Thoreau, Jeremy Bentham, Kafka, King, Malcom X, and Chester Himes. Course requirements: one in-class presentation, two short essays, a number of response papers, along with careful reading and enthusiastic participation.

fulfills requirements