Contemporary Irish Republican Prison Writing Writing and Resistance

The first book devoted entirely to a critical examination of contemporary Irish prison literature, Contemporary Irish Republican Prison Writing explicates extant and previously unpublished texts by world-famous figures like Gerry Adams and Bobby Sands as well as the works of lesser-known and anonymous authors, paying special attention to women's writing. This book analyzes Republican resistance within Northern Irish prisons as it traces the textual history of these writings, demonstrating the ways in which POWs appropriate prison space through discursive strategies. As it explores the aesthetic alterity of prison writing Contemporary Irish Republican Prison Writing critiques traditional assumptions about literature, simultaneously shedding light on the continuing conservatism of canonical boundaries.