| Name: | Description: | Size: | Format: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 208.7 KB | Adobe PDF |
Authors
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The “human interest story as social parable” (Kerrane 1997: 17) is the cornerstone of Isabel Nery’s book The
Prisoners, Mothers behind bars (2012). It pays respect to ordinary people with extraordinary lives, a relevant feature of literary journalism (Sims 1995: 3). For months, Nery sat, observed, listened and talked to the
jailed mothers in two prisons in Portugal, Tires and Santa Cruz do Bispo, and in Rhode Island in the USA. The
author tells their stories and gives voice to their thoughts and feelings in an attempt to uncover and recover
the dignity of human life. Immersion reporting and a critical standpoint result in an impactful testimony
of the harsh reality of imprisoned motherhood and childhood and the experience of constrained freedom
where the absence of sun, joy and care are deeply felt. Nery is a literary journalist who reveals the emotional
state of feminine human nature behind bars where survival, (re)adaptation and guilt go hand in hand with
despair from lack of fellow human concern.
Description
Keywords
Portuguese Literary Journalism, Isabel Nery, Motherhood, Imprisonment