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The anthology is edited and introduced by Jack Mapanje, the Malawian poet who was himself imprisoned for over three years without trial.
He has selected contributions of literary and historical significance from many distinguished writers and political activists including Kwame Nkrumah, Obafemi Awolowo, Kenneth Kaunda, Steve Biko, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and Wole Soyinka.
Their words provide a harrowing record of physical and mental suffering along with heartening insights into human courage, resilience and a 'stubborn will to be free'.
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
The memory of shame and torture
17 Oct 2009
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I didn't read the entire book, I just dipped into the parts that were most interesting to me. It's divided into sections.
The first section, "Origins", focuses on the Colonial era, with contributions from Kenneth Kaunda, Oginga Odinga, Nkrumah, Kenyatta, Steve Biko, and other protesters against colonial rule. They're not all prison writings -- in fact, most of them in this section aren't. For instance, the contribution from Jomo Kenyatta is the speech he gave on Independence Day in 1963.
The following section -- "Arrest, Detention and Prison" -- has contributions from both the colonial era (Kwame Nkrumah again) and from the post-colonial (like Wole Soyinka, and Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Nigerian environmentalist who was hanged, along with eight others, after a murder trial widely criticized as rigged).
There's a section headed "Torture". This includes a piece by the editor of the anthology, Malawian poet and teacher, Jack Mapanje. This is followed by the "Survival" section, which includes two wonderful piece by Nelson Mandela (including one from which the collection takes its title). Other well known names in this section include Wole Soyinka (again), Winnie Mandela, Breyten Breytenbach, and Ngugi wa Thiongo.
To anyone who is not very familiar with recent African history, most of the names of the contributors will be unknown. To me, anthologies are inherently not very satisfying, because they lack unity. This book could be very much improved, though, by including a brief bio of each of the writers in it.
The first section, "Origins", focuses on the Colonial era, with contributions from Kenneth Kaunda, Oginga Odinga, Nkrumah, Kenyatta, Steve Biko, and other protesters against colonial rule. They're not all prison writings -- in fact, most of them in this section aren't. For instance, the contribution from Jomo Kenyatta is the speech he gave on Independence Day in 1963.
The following section -- "Arrest, Detention and Prison" -- has contributions from both the colonial era (Kwame Nkrumah again) and from the post-colonial (like Wole Soyinka, and Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Nigerian environmentalist who was hanged, along with eight others, after a murder trial widely criticized as rigged).
There's a section headed "Torture". This includes a piece by the editor of the anthology, Malawian poet and teacher, Jack Mapanje. This is followed by the "Survival" section, which includes two wonderful piece by Nelson Mandela (including one from which the collection takes its title). Other well known names in this section include Wole Soyinka (again), Winnie Mandela, Breyten Breytenbach, and Ngugi wa Thiongo.
To anyone who is not very familiar with recent African history, most of the names of the contributors will be unknown. To me, anthologies are inherently not very satisfying, because they lack unity. This book could be very much improved, though, by including a brief bio of each of the writers in it.
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