The Relation of My Imprisonment, Russell Banks
The Relation of My Imprisonment, Russell Banks
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The Relation of My Imprisonment
A Fiction

Author: Russell Banks

Narrator: John Pruden

Unabridged: 3 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/12/2013


Synopsis

“Banks has skillfully used his repertoire of contemporary techniques to write a novel that is classically American—a dark, but sometimes funny, romance with echoes of Poe and Melville.” — Washington Post""A marvelously written little book, fascinatingly intricate, yet deceptively simple. Well worth reading more than once."" — New York Times Book ReviewFrom acclaimed author Russell Banks comes a work of fiction utilizing a form invented in the seventeenth century by imprisoned Puritan divinesDesigned to be exemplary, works of this type were aimed at brethren outside the prison walls and functioned primarily as figurative dramatizations of the tests of faith all true believers must endure. These “relations,” framed by scripture and by a sermon explicating the text, were usually read aloud in weekly or monthly installments during religious services. Utterly sincere and detailed recountings of suffering, they were nonetheless highly artificial. To use the form self-consciously, as Banks has done, is not to parody it so much as to argue good-humoredly with the mind it embodies, to explore and, if possible, to map the limits of that mind, the more intelligently to love it.

About Russell Banks

Russell Banks, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, was one of America’s most prestigious fiction writers, a past president of the International Parliament of Writers, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work has been translated into twenty languages and he received numerous prizes and awards, including the Common Wealth Award for Literature. He died in January 2023 at the age of eighty-two.  


Reviews

Goodreads review by Grady

Literature has an assortment of genres and sub-genres. One is the relation. Popular among 17th Century Puritans, a relation is the retelling of a personal experience. It was usually the retelling of the author’s spiritual conflicts and tribulations, quite often involving imprisonment as religious pe......more

Goodreads review by Jesse

Three stars, begrudgingly. It's creative and it definitely shows Banks' ability as an author but this book is mostly pointless. In fact, I don't get it at all and I don't really care either.......more

Goodreads review by Bob

Ballsy. Who else but Banks would dare write in a style from the seventeenth century of imprisoned Puritans!. Entertaining; not his best. But - as he is a master- that’s not saying much. One histerically funny part.......more

Goodreads review by Joshua

It's been a good few months since I completed "The Relation of My Imprisonment." However, I will try to review the book briefly based upon my memory of it, which admittedly is a little clouded. First off, I would say to anyone that is interested in getting into Russell Banks's fiction, "The Relation......more

Goodreads review by Kevin

A Swiftian satire on the conventions of religion and the political system of imprisonment. Don't let the mock-seventeenth century style throw you--this book is very droll. Unobtrusive details are telling and sometimes hilarious.......more