Research Catalog

Title

Metaphors of confinement : the prison in fact, fiction, and fantasy / Monika Fludernik.

Author

Fludernik, Monika

Publication

Oxford ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2019.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xxviii, 804 pages : illustrations; 24 cm.

Summary

Metaphors of Confinement: The Prison in Fact, Fiction, and Fantasy offers a historical survey of imaginings of the prison as expressed in carceral metaphors in a range of texts about imprisonment from Antiquity to the present as well as non-penal situations described as confining or restrictive. These imaginings coalesce into a 'carceral imaginary' that determines the way we think about prisons, just as social debates about punishment and criminals feed into the way carceral imaginary develops over time. 0Examining not only English-language prose fiction but also poetry and drama from the Middle Ages to postcolonial, particularly African, literature, the book juxtaposes literary and non-literary contexts and contrasts fictional and nonfictional representations of (im)prison(ment) and discussions about the prison as institution and experiential reality. It comments on present-day trends of punitivity and foregrounds the ethical dimensions of penal punishment. The main argument concerns the continuity of carceral metaphors through the centuries despite historical developments that included major shifts in policy (such as the invention of the penitentiary). The study looks at selected carceral metaphors, often from two complementary perspectives, such as the home as prison or the prison as0home, or the factory as prison and the prison as factory. The case studies present particularly relevant genres and texts that employ these metaphors, often from a historical perspective that analyses development through different periods.

Series Statement

Law and literature

Uniform Title

Law and literature (Oxford)

Subject

• Prisons in literature
• Imprisonment in literature

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Call Number

JFE 19-9333

ISBN

• 019884090X
• 9780198840909

OCLC

1081244378

Author

Fludernik, Monika, author.

Title

Metaphors of confinement : the prison in fact, fiction, and fantasy / Monika Fludernik.

Publisher

Oxford ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2019.

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Law and literature

Law and literature (Oxford)

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Research Call Number

JFE 19-9333