The Consolations of Writing (ebook)

Argumento de The Consolations of Writing (ebook)

Boethius wrote The Consolation of Philosophy as a prisoner condemned to death for treason, circumstances that are reflected in the themes and concerns of its evocative poetry and dialogue between the prisoner and his mentor, Lady Philosophy. This classic philosophical statement of late antiquity has had an enduring influence on Western thought. It is also the earliest example of what Rivkah Zim identifies as a distinctive and vitally important medium of literary resistance: writing in captivity by prisoners of conscience and persecuted minorities.

The Consolations of Writing reveals why the great contributors to this tradition of prison writing are among the most crucial figures in Western literature. Zim pairs writers from different periods and cultural settings, carefully examining the rhetorical strategies they used in captivity, often under the threat of death. She looks at Boethius and Dietrich Bonhoeffer as philosophers and theologians writing in defense of their ideas, and Thomas More and Antonio Gramsci as politicians in dialogue with established concepts of church and state. Different ideas of grace and disgrace occupied John Bunyan and Oscar Wilde in prison; Madame Roland and Anne Frank wrote themselves into history in various forms of memoir; and Jean Cassou and Irina Ratushinskaya voiced their resistance to totalitarianism through lyric poetry that saved their lives and inspired others. Finally, Primo Levis writing after his release from Auschwitz recalls and decodes the obscenity of systematic genocide and its aftermath.

A moving and powerful testament, The Consolations of Writing speaks to some of the most profound questions about life, enriching our understanding of what it is to be human.

Honorable Mention for the 2015 René Wellek Prize, American Comparative Literature Association

"[A] revelatory study. . . . Zim's close readings of these in-tandem texts bear haunting witness to enduring conditions in the world that ought not to be but unfathomably are, despite all the vociferous protestations that decry inhumane treatment of the other."--Choice

"This book clearly demonstrates the profundity of much writing from prison and is packed full of fascinating and, in my experience, accurate observations. Every prison chaplain ought to have this book on his or her shelf."--Terry Waite, Church Times0Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part I. In Defense of Civilization 19
1. The Disciplines of Reason and Lyric Poetry 21
Anicius Boethius, Of the Consolation of Philosophy (ca. 524-25): The Foundations of Resistance in Dialogue and Lyric 21
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison (1943-45): Christian Ethics and Lyric 47
2. Creative Dialogues with Textual Partners, Past and Present 79
Thomas More, A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation: A Political Guide to the Dilemmas of Religious Conscience (1534-35) 80
Antonio Gramsci, Prison Letters (1926-37): Dialogue in Dialectic 104
Part II. Preservation of Self 119
3. Memory and Self-Justification: Images of Grace and Disgrace Abounding 121
John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666): Writing the Eternally Present Self 124
Oscar Wilde, De Profundis (1897): A Pastoral Letter of Disgrace Abounding 142
4. Memorial Narratives as Salvation for the Feminine Self 166
Marie-Jeanne Roland, Memoirs (1793): Writing History Herself 169
Anne Frank, The Diary and Tales from the Secret Annexe (1942-44): Life Writing 191
5. The Consolations of Imagination and Lyric Poetry 213
Jean Cassou, Trente-trois sonnets composés au secret / 33 Sonnets of the Resistance (1943): Preserving the Liberty of a Poet 214
Irina Ratushinskaya, Pencil Letter and No, I'm Not Afraid (1982-86): Preserving the Life of a Poet 241
Part III. Testimony for Mankind 265
6. With Hindsight and Beyond Resistance 267
Primo Levi, If This Is a Man (1947) and Ad ora incerta (1947-86): Resisting the Demolition of a Man 267
Primo Levi, Moments of Reprieve (1981): In Defense of Civilization 291
Conclusion: Beyond Testimony 302
Select Bibliography 311
Index 319