Abstract
Prison is a hidden, marginal space that renders the prisoner Other to society, and writing by prisoners is similarly marginalised. This thesis examines such prisoner writing, as a literary genre largely neglected by academia. My analysis builds on the limited existing research in the field, including formative works by Franklin (1978/1989), Scheffler (1986/2002) and Davies (1990). Specifically, this thesis explores Davies’s assertion that prisoner writing represents an act of translation, as the prisoner-writer conveys the experience of imprisonment to readers outside prison walls. Accordingly, I employ theories from translation studies to assess the translational nature of prisoner writing, drawing on discussions of rewriting (Lefevere, 1992/2017; Gentzler, 2016), mediation (Hatim & Mason, 1990), cultural translation (Carbonell, 1996, Katan, 1999/2014) and border writing (Gentzler, 2008; Doloughan, 2016). In evaluating how prisoner writing forges connections between the prison and non-prison worlds, I am influenced by the emerging field of carceral geography (Moran, 2015; Turner; 2016), which foregrounds spatial aspects of imprisonment.
From this interdisciplinary perspective, I explore how prisoner writing translates prison for the non-prisoner reader. In focusing on carceral texts, I seek to increase the visibility of prisoner writing, and assess how the genre can improve our understanding of prison, supporting criminological study and aiding prison reform. Employing archival research, I compile a corpus of primary texts with a shared national, historical and cultural context: specifically contemporary short stories about prison, written by UK prisoners, and published via anthologies, journals, or competitions. I analyse the forms of intralingual and cultural translation present in these primary texts, and consider how publication practices represent a further translation of prisoner writing, charting typical publication processes and examining the use of paratexts. My analysis reveals how prisoner writing bears witness to the hidden carceral experience, allowing writers and readers alike to cross the prison boundary.