Island Life
Dennis Brutus's Prison Experience and the Poetics of “Letters to Martha”
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9251091 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lewis Lewis (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 117 |
| Publication date | 2020-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Research in African Literatures (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-5210 • E-ISSN: 1527-2044 |
| Publisher | Indiana University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2979/reseafrilite.51.2.07 |
| OpenAlex | W3116827821 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
This article offers a reading of a sampling of one of the earliest examples of South African prison literature, poet-activist Dennis Brutus’s “Letters to Martha,” first published in Letters to Martha and Other Poems from a South African Prison in 1968. While Brutus has a reputation as a political firebrand, the article reveals the craft and poetic principles that underlie the poetry by comparing the poems with prose representations of prison life (including Brutus’s own memoirs) under apartheid. The analysis focuses in particular on the manner in which Brutus “embrace[d] the status of prisoner,” enabling him to speak as and on behalf of prisoners (political and nonpolitical) and developing in him a broad sympathy for prisoners worldwide criminalized by unjust laws
Art · Criminology · Literature · Memoir · Poetics · Poetry · Political science · Politics · Prison · Psychoanalysis · Reading (process) · Reputation · Sociology · Sympathy · African studies and sociopolitical issues · History · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa · Psychology · South African History and Culture
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,04 |
| Citation span | 2003 - 2003 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |