“‘I am possess’d’ wrote Walt Whitman, see myself in prison shaped like another man,/ And feel the dull unitermitted pain.’ Likewise, Bruce Franklin in The Victim as Criminal and Artist is possessed. . . . The study’s force comes from its willingness to examine materials that provide nineteenth-century underpinnings to much modern writing: African folk and work songs, blues, Clotel, early criminal narratives, the prose of O. Henry and Jack London. The book ends with Franklin’s own critical ambivalence on display. After his freewheeling overview comes a 33-page annotated bibliography of literature by convicts, 1800-1977. Like Whitman as poet, Franklin as critic contains multitudes.”

“The Victim as Criminal and Artist presents an excellent critique of established criteria of literary evaluation, supports an enormous volume of work in criminology and penology, and illuminates the relationship between the imprisonment of oppressed groups and literary creativity.”

“Mr. Franklin gives us an important book. . . . He has written a significant, troubling book which makes me question my deep- rooted assumptions about criminality, ‘low’ and ‘high’ culture, and America itself.”

“Franklin’s study has so many applications and arguments that it is difficult to place it in one category. It is literary criticism; it is a note from the underground; it is literary history and a pungent political treatise.”

“Franklin’s study clearly breaks new ground–organizing and interpreting for us major themes and issues in what is, indeed, a gigantic field of writing. . . . A distinct richness flows through The Victim as Criminal and Artist, and one cannot help thanking H. Bruce Franklin for giving a sense of order and perspective to such a troublesome body of literature.”

” . . . may contribute more to the . . . pursuit of new penology than any previously published work. At the very least, it will stand as a seminal exploration of the relationship between creative literature and imprisonment in America. . . . indispensable for anyone engaged in the serious study of imprisonment. . . . reveals more about the historical experience and continuing personal cataclysms of imprisonment than most of the sepulchral texts combined.”

“H. Bruce Franklin has successfully combined the roles of scholar and activist. . . . His personal and professional interests have again come together in this masterful attempt to explore the neglected literature of society’s victims and those who have identified with them.”

“Most of all, The Victim is one of those few books that reveal the structure and the collective mentality of America in tendon, fibre, muscle and neuron. It is a fine, fine book, a noble work, another of those explosions (though there are not too many) which, even if not heard, will produce air shocks and tsunamis at great distances in time and thought.”
John A. Williams, author of The Man Who Cried I Am

“Franklin has produced a ground-breaking study of convict literature. . . . This book may not launch a major revaluation of American letters, but it will, at least, be much used by students of American literature and culture.”

“Franklin opens a new area of American literary history . . . This important book is informed by leftist social criticism, passionately argued, and eminently scholarly . . . . It upsets traditional assumptions but is profoundly affirmative . . . .

” . . . a bold bid to reshape American literary criticism . . . . Franklin’s book . . . will interest all those concerned with literature. It should be mandatory reading for English teachers. At a time when classy literature dishes up ethnic whining, New York neuroses and Southern psychoses, it’s a relief to get a whiff of real humanity, of writing where words are used not to mask society but to strip away its mask. Franklin provides that service.”

“Franklin . . . brings a fresh perspective to the meaning, value and contributions that have been made by the men and women whose ideas and talents were molded in the crucible of the cage. . . . Professor Franklin makes an eloquent and persuasive case for his views. . . . An open-minded reading of The Victim as Criminal and Artist should convince even the most hard-nosed skeptic that H. Bruce Franklin could well be right when he says prison literature in America `is central rather than peripheral to our literature.’”

“Franklin expands the dimensions of the study of U.S. literature by examining the works of writers, primarily black, whose prose and poetry are based on their experiences as prisoners. . . . What results is a challenging redefinition of ‘American’ literary excellence founded on a broader consideration of social context and values.”

“Claiming to be the first critical study of American prison literature, this important and exciting survey actually encompasses the whole range of the literature of oppression. . . . (Franklin’s) book, written with passion and intelligence, reclaims a significant segment of American literature.”
Publishers Weekly

“The Victim as Criminal and Artist is an important contribution both to American studies and to current literary methodology, virtually constituting a whole new field of study.”

“Franklin’s book merits the description of ‘a seminal work.’ He provides a framework for, and begins to develop, an interpretation of a truly American cultural tradition.”

“The Victim as Criminal and Artist is a vitally important book that redefines American literature and gives a long overdue tribute to artists who have suffered the brutality of the prison system.”

“(Franklin’s) research is thorough; his empathy is apparent and his grasp of the subject is an impressive as it is complete. Although the book would be recommended as the backbone of any course teaching the subject, it does not read like a textbook. On the contrary, this book is a pleasure to read.
Franklin’s concepts . . . crackle with a freshness more often found in poetry than in prose. And he is always one step ahead of the reader; yet, with the skill of a thoughtful guide, he is careful never to lose the reader. Instead he quickly involves the reader with a series of interacting historical perspectives; then he offers a critical analysis as unique and as innovative as the material being analyzed.”