Monday, September 21, 2009

Ten of the best books written in prison

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best books written in prison.

One book on his list:
Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes

Cervantes was jailed two or three times, and he claims in his prologue to Don Quixote that his great mock-romance was "begotten in a prison". Confined to a cell, the author's imagination wanders with his crack-brained knight over the dusty roads of Spain.
Read about the other nine works on Mullan's list.

Don Quixote is the second most popular book among prisoners at the U.S. base at Guantánamo Bay.

Paul Auster always returns to Don Quixote; Claire Messud hasn't read it.

--Marshal Zeringue