Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist. Berkman Alexander

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Название Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist
Автор произведения Berkman Alexander
Жанр Биографии и Мемуары
Серия
Издательство Биографии и Мемуары
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781849352536



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he wanted to deliver it or not. We might well see the writing of this book as an attempt to make his comrades understand that he was merely human, with all the strengths and weaknesses that word entails, and not a mythical hero. There is some poignancy in us knowing he wouldn’t succeed.

      When we read Prison Memoirs we would do well to realize that the book is a snapshot, a moment in time. It is a snapshot that could have changed every day as Berkman constantly revised his memories of prison, and consequently the text. It is likely his memories would have changed and coalesced for the rest of his life, leaving some kind of dissatisfaction with the written evidence created between 1910 and 1912. Be that as it may, one must acknowledge Berkman’s skill as a writer. Throughout the book he adopts various writing styles and techniques. Sometimes he can be clumsy, but more often he writes with a balance and poise that is quite remarkable when one considers the subject matter.

      His ear for dialogue and dialect is acute. As someone wanting to portray the realism of life behind prison walls, he tries, with some success, to copy the accents and cadence of the prisoners that were part of his life for all those years. Boston Red educates Berkman about man-boy love and the meaning of criminal slang; George discusses gay prison life with Berkman; and Wingie, who advises Berkman in his early days in the Penitentiary, introduces him to prison slang. Less successful to the modern reader—though perhaps of its time—is his representation of black prisoners. These and other vignettes throughout the book coalesce into an aural experience that provides a sense of reality, drawing us into a world we know little of. Often scenes with characters are near monologues, with Berkman playing the role of the young innocent, and obviously these scenes are conveying a message to us as well as to him. His use of dialogue ensures that ideas and information are conveyed to us without didacticism. Some of these characters did exist, and it’s quite likely that others—George and Boston Red for instance—didn’t. Of course people who were like them, did. It is unlikely, however, that they had these conversations with Berkman at one time as presented in the book, or even at all. It might be better to see them as characters providing us with information and attitudes that Berkman picked up and came to terms with over his fourteen-year sentence. These characters are just as likely vehicles for the thoughts he must have had in those long, lonely years of isolation and basket cell punishment—a mapping out of conversations with himself that helped him understand the culture of criminals and prison before he could write about them for us. Berkman may have exaggerated his naiveté at times but it was still real and palpable. Locked up as he was, inside the world of his political beliefs, the book reflects how he had to re-consider what he knew and come to terms with what he didn’t. At times, his unease and the unsettled retreat into himself as that process takes place is also evident.

      Sometimes Berkman becomes the sociological reporter in order to illustrate the casual de-humanization of prison life. The parade of the sick who are unsympathetically treated by medical staff and the casual contempt and cruelty of the prison guards to prisoners is carefully documented. Prisoners die because of this casualness and it is just as deadly as the “clubbing squad.” His walks along the cell block range as the coffee boy allows him to present us with pen portraits of the prisoners. All of them are portrayed as individuals. All of them, as far as he is concerned, are victims. Waiting to pounce is the sheer horror of madness. His friend Wingie will go mad, eventually unable to recognize Berkman. He shows us the young black man reduced to madness and living in filth—not allowed to go home after serving his sentence. We see others who just give up or live in a fantasy world. Berkman documents it all remorselessly and the effect is all the more powerful for its frank realism. His description of the poignancy of New Year’s Eve in prison stays with us for a long time after we have put the book down. Who deserves to live like this? What is anyone gaining from this experience?

      Jessica Moran and Barry Pateman,

       Kate Sharpley Library

      1 Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist, see p. 219 of this volume.

      2 See for example, John William Ward’s introduction to the New York Review of Books edition, 1999.