The Culture and Politics of Contemporary Street Gang Memoirs

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Black, American, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Sociology, Urban
Cover of the book The Culture and Politics of Contemporary Street Gang Memoirs by Josephine Metcalf, University Press of Mississippi
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Josephine Metcalf ISBN: 9781617032820
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi Publication: July 2, 2012
Imprint: University Press of Mississippi Language: English
Author: Josephine Metcalf
ISBN: 9781617032820
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Publication: July 2, 2012
Imprint: University Press of Mississippi
Language: English

The publication of Sanyika Shakur's Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member in 1993 generated a huge amount of excitement in literary circles--New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani deemed it a "shocking and galvanic book"--and set off a new publishing trend of gang memoirs in the 1990s. The memoirs showcased tales of violent confrontation and territorial belonging but also offered many of the first journalistic and autobiographical accounts of the much-mythologized gang subculture.

In The Culture and Politics of Contemporary Street Gang Memoirs, Josephine Metcalf focuses on three of these memoirs--Shakur's Monster; Luis J. Rodriguez's Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A.; and Stanley "Tookie" Williams's Blue Rage, Black Redemption--as key representatives of the gang autobiography. Metcalf examines the conflict among violence, thrilling sensationalism, and the authorial desire to instruct and warn competing within these works. The narrative arcs of the memoirs themselves rest on the process of conversion from brutal, young gang bangers to nonviolent, enlightened citizens.

Metcalf analyzes the emergence, production, marketing, and reception of gang memoirs. Through interviews with Rodriguez, Shakur, and Barbara Cottman Becnel (Williams's editor), Metcalf reveals both the writing and publishing processes. This book analyzes key narrative conventions, specifically how diction, dialogue, and narrative arcs shape the works. The book also explores how the memoirs are consumed. This interdisciplinary study--fusing literary criticism, sociology, ethnography, reader-response study, and editorial theory--brings scholarly attention to a popular, much-discussed, but understudied modern expression.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The publication of Sanyika Shakur's Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member in 1993 generated a huge amount of excitement in literary circles--New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani deemed it a "shocking and galvanic book"--and set off a new publishing trend of gang memoirs in the 1990s. The memoirs showcased tales of violent confrontation and territorial belonging but also offered many of the first journalistic and autobiographical accounts of the much-mythologized gang subculture.

In The Culture and Politics of Contemporary Street Gang Memoirs, Josephine Metcalf focuses on three of these memoirs--Shakur's Monster; Luis J. Rodriguez's Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A.; and Stanley "Tookie" Williams's Blue Rage, Black Redemption--as key representatives of the gang autobiography. Metcalf examines the conflict among violence, thrilling sensationalism, and the authorial desire to instruct and warn competing within these works. The narrative arcs of the memoirs themselves rest on the process of conversion from brutal, young gang bangers to nonviolent, enlightened citizens.

Metcalf analyzes the emergence, production, marketing, and reception of gang memoirs. Through interviews with Rodriguez, Shakur, and Barbara Cottman Becnel (Williams's editor), Metcalf reveals both the writing and publishing processes. This book analyzes key narrative conventions, specifically how diction, dialogue, and narrative arcs shape the works. The book also explores how the memoirs are consumed. This interdisciplinary study--fusing literary criticism, sociology, ethnography, reader-response study, and editorial theory--brings scholarly attention to a popular, much-discussed, but understudied modern expression.

More books from University Press of Mississippi

Cover of the book C. L. R. James and Creolization by Josephine Metcalf
Cover of the book Faulkner and Formalism by Josephine Metcalf
Cover of the book The Complete Folktales of A. N. Afanas’ev by Josephine Metcalf
Cover of the book This Light of Ours by Josephine Metcalf
Cover of the book Paul Verhoeven by Josephine Metcalf
Cover of the book Conversations with Edmund White by Josephine Metcalf
Cover of the book Jazz Transatlantic, Volume I by Josephine Metcalf
Cover of the book A Lifetime Burning by Josephine Metcalf
Cover of the book Conversations with Percival Everett by Josephine Metcalf
Cover of the book Quincy Jones by Josephine Metcalf
Cover of the book Quentin Tarantino by Josephine Metcalf
Cover of the book Hollywood Unknowns by Josephine Metcalf
Cover of the book Witness to Injustice by Josephine Metcalf
Cover of the book Slavery, Propaganda, and the American Revolution by Josephine Metcalf
Cover of the book Merchant-Ivory by Josephine Metcalf
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy