Writings from a Greek Prison
32 Steps, or Correspondence from the House of the Dead
Tasos Theofilou author Ben Morea author Eleni Pappa translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Common Notions
Published:13th May '13
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Writings from a Greek Prison is a literary work of biting realism. Tasos Theofilou gives testimony on the brutality of prison life, and its centrality in contemporary capitalism, through a blur of memoir, social commentary, free verse, and a glossary of the idiom used by inmates in Greek prisons. A political prisoner in Greece from 2012 to 2017, Theofilou’s work centers on exposing the conditions of widespread exploitation and social struggle that persist in Greece as a result of the debt crisis—in prisons as well as in mainstream society. Common Notions’ new imprint, ΔΙΠΛΗ / DIPLI, taking its name from the Greek word “double,” refers to the way in which prisoners from different prisons communicate by way of the double telephone line. With this strategy, two to five prisoners in different locations call the same telephone number at an agreed upon time and the owner of that telephone number, living outside prison, connects them together. Proceeds raised through the DIPLI imprint will support political prisoners.
“With sensitivity and intelligence, Tasos Theofilou conveys the harsh reality of Balkan prisons. He simultaneously provides a glimpse of the romantic soul of a Greek anarchist. Although widely known as one of the world’s most radical scenes, the Greek movement’s interior has seldom been so honestly revealed.
—George Katsiaficas, activist, author, and co-editor of Liberation, Imagination and the Black Panther Party.
“Tasos Theofilou’s intervention sheds light on one of the most observed periods of contemporary Greek history through the eyes of an anarcho-communist militant who suddenly found himself charged (and imprisoned for 5 years) for a crime many, and above all his prosecutors, knew he had not committed. Combining wit and scathing social criticism, the book is a documentation, a damning testament, a literary expression, and a glossary written from the perspective of an inmate. But it is not confined to Tasos’ own experience. It unveils the repressive mechanism of class domination that is the same all around the world: the prison system. It is, for this reason, an indispensable testimony of a world everyone knows exists but few pay attention to. Above all, it is an unwavering call for its abolition.”
—Pavlos Roufos, author of A Happy Future Is a Thing of the Past
ISBN: 9781942173120
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
144 pages