Guarded Words
Writing from Prison: England, France, Russia
In Guarded Words - Writing from Prison: England, France, Russia (Unicorn Press, 2020), Eric de Bellaigue attempts to answer questions inspired by his reading of Isaac D'Israeli's short essay 'Imprisonment of the Learned', which is found in that author's Curiosities of Literature from 1791. He asks: 'Can prison writing lay claim to a distinctive chapter in histories of literature? Is there a thread linking prisoners' output across the centuries? Can confinement provide the ideal environment for literary creativity? Is there common ground among the subjects treated? Alternatively, does diversity ride rough-shod over the shared experiences of imprisonment?'
In the book’s preface, Eric de Bellaigue explains the self-imposed restrictions that have determined his choice of writers and how the sequence of chapters has largely been governed by geography and chronology. Texts need to have been composed within the prisons themselves, and memoirs written after release have been excluded. With three exceptions the writings are in English or French with the year 1500 as a starting point. The writers who make their appearance here are a mixed bag. Where common ground is apparent it is at the personal level, notably in the causes of imprisonment which include:
For religious views: John Bunyan; Clement Marot; Anne Askew; Thomas More; John Hart.
For reasons of State: Walter Ralegh; William Prynne; Antoine Lavoisier; Madame Roland; Andre Chenier; Jean-Antoine Roucher; the Earl of Surrey; Charles I ; Richard Lovelace.
As victims of civil action: William Combe; Theodore von Neuhoff, King of Corsica; Mirabeau; Voltaire.
For Murder: Pierre Francois Lacenaire; William Chester Minor.
For dissidence in Russia: Alexander Solzhenitsyn; Lev Mishchenko ; Irina Ratushinskaya.
Listen to an interview with Eric de Bellaigue about the book here.
