Prison Letter Writing as Theology of Presence: German and Indian Perspectives
Issue: Vol 8 No. 3 (2014)
Journal: Religions of South Asia
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Buddhist Studies Islamic Studies
Abstract:
This article attempts to identify a meaningful theology through the medium of prison letter writing. While the majority of prison letters coming out of British colonial India and Nazi Germany have been cherished for their historical value, it is argued that the vitality of the letter rests in a reception narrative that moves beyond the Sitz im Leben of its author and places critical emphasis on the connection between the letter’s combined form and content. Prison letter writing is explored through the language of theology as an appropriate interpretative method that conceives of its historical presence as one that occurs within history but is not limited by history. In adopting this tack, the author offers presence as a way of avoiding the complications of a theological nomenclature that threatens to stand outside of history or become too abstract and otherworldly to meet the demands and needs of those for whom the project of prison writing remained transformational. Comparisons in the penal cultures of Germany and India from the twentieth century are explored for the purpose of broadening the conversation.
Author: Trey Palmisano
References :
Arnold, David. 1997. ‘The Colonial Prison: Power, Knowledge, and Penology in Nineteenth-Century India.’ In Ranajit Guha (ed.), Subaltern Studies Reader 1986–1995: 140–78. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota.
— 2004. ‘The Self and the Cell: Indian Prison Narratives as Life Histories.’ In David Arnold and Stewart Blackburn (eds.), Telling Lives in India: Biography, Autobiography, and Life History: 29–53. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Auerbach, Erich. 2003 [1953]. Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Bataille, Georges. 1985. Visions of Excess: Selected Writings 1927–1939, Theory and History of Literature, vol. 14. Allan Stoekl (ed.). Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.
Bazerman, George. 2000. ‘Letters and the Social Grounding of Differentiated Genres.’ In David Barton and Nigel Hall (eds.), Letter Writing as a Social Practice: 15–30. Studies in Writing Language and Literacy, 9. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/swll.9.02baz
Beck, Guy L. 1995. Sonic Theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers PVT.
Bernauer, James, and Jeremy Carrette. 2004. ‘The Enduring Problem: Foucault, Theology and Culture.’ Michel Foucault and Theology: The Politics of Religious Experience: 1–18. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Bland, Caroline. 2004. ‘Gender Politics: Breathing New Life into Old Letters.’ In Caroline Bland and Maire Cross (eds.), Gender and Politics in the Age of Letter Writing, 1750–2000: 3–14. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Blythe, Ronald (ed.), 1991. Private Words: Letters and Diaries from the Second World War. London: Viking Press.
Boetcher Joeres, Ruth-Ellen. 1997. ‘The German Enlightenment (1720–1790).’ In Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly (ed.), The Cambridge History of German Literature: 147–201. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 2010. ‘Letter to Eberhard Bethge, 30 April 1944.’ In John W. de Gruchy (ed.), Letters and Papers from Prison. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, 8. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Bose, Subhas Chandra. 1994. Letters to Emilie Schenkl 1934–1942. Sisir Kumar Bose and Sugata Bose (eds.). Kolkata: Netaji Research Bureau.
Brohm, Holger. 2010. ‘From Erlebnis and Erinnerung: Rereading Soldiers’ Letters and Photographs from the First World War.’ In Birgit Dahlke, Dennis Tate and Roger Woods (eds.), German Life Writing in the Twentieth Century: Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture: 39–53. Rochester, NY: Camden House.
Buber, Martin. 1991. Nahum N. Glatzer and Paul Mendes-Flohr (eds.), Richard and Clara Winston and Harry Zohn (trans.). The Letters of Martin Buber: A Life of Dialogue: 476–86. New York: Schocken Books.
Burke, Seán. 1998. The Death and Return of the Author: Criticism and Subjectivity in Barthes, Foucault, and Derrida. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Chatterjee, Margaret. 2005. Gandhi and the Challenge of Religious Diversity: Religious Pluralism Revisited. New Delhi: Promilla and Bibliophile Asia.
Coady, Mary Frances. 2003. With Bound Hands, a Jesuit in Nazi Germany: The Life and Selected Prison Letters of Alfred Delp. Chicago: Loyola Press.
Coetsier, Meins G. S. 2008. Etty Hillesum and the Flow of Presence: A Voegelinian Analysis. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.
de Gruchy, John W. 2009. ‘On Locusts and Wild Honey—Letter Writing as Doing Theology.’ In Miranda Pillay, Sarojini Nadar and Clint Le Bruyns (eds.), Ragbag Theologies: Essays in Honour of Denise M. Ackermann, a Feminist Theologian of Praxis: 175–81. Stellenbosch: Sun Press.
Dhavamony, Mariasusai. 1982. Classical Hinduism. Rome: Gregorian University Press.
Dossena, Marina. 2012. ‘The Study of Correspondence: Theoretical and Methodological Issues.’ In Marina Dossena and Gabriella Del Lungo Camiciotti (eds.), Letter Writing in Late Modern Europe: 13–29. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/pbns.218.02dos
Doty, W. G. 1973. Letters in Primitive Christianity. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
Falk, Maryla. 2006. Nāma-Rūpa and Dharma-Rūpa: Origin and Aspects of an Ancient Indian Conception. Fremont, CA: Jain.
Gandhi, Mahatma. 1932. From Yeravda Mandir: Ashram Observances. Valji Govindji Desai (trans.). Ahmedabad: Navajivan.
Gandhi, Mahatma. 2002. The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of his Writings on his Life, Works, and Ideas. Louis Fischer (ed.). London: Vintage Books.
Ghosh, Barindra Kumar. 1922. The Tale of my Exile. India: Arya Office, Pondicherry.
Harper, Graeme. 2001. ‘Criminal Minds and Felonious Nations: Colonial and Postcolonial Incarceration.’ In Graeme Harper (ed.), Colonial and Postcolonial Incarceration: 9–22. London: Continuum.
Herbermann, Nanda. 2000. The Blessed Abyss: Inmate #6582 in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp for Women. Hester Baer and Elizabeth R. Baer (eds.). Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
Heckel, Theodor. 1996. ‘Letter of March 7, 1936 from Theodor Heckel to the Regional Church Council.’ In Otto Dudzus and Jürgen Henkys (eds.), Illegale Theologenausbildung: Finkenwalde 1935–1937. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Werke, 14; Germany: Gütersloher.
— 2013. ‘Letter of March 7, 1936 from Theodor Heckel to the Regional Church Council.’ 1/58. In H. Gaylon Barker (ed.), Theological Education at Finkenwalde: 1935-1937: 148. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, 14; Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress Press.
Kachru, Yamuna, and Larry E. Smith. 2008. Cultures, Contexts, and World Englishes. New York: Routledge.
Kane, P. V. 1973. History of Dharmasastra, vol. 3. 2nd edn. Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.
Kirschner, Ann. 2006. Sala’s Gift: My Mother’s Holocaust Story. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Kurzweil, Edith. 2004. Nazi Laws and Jewish Lives: Letter from Vienna. New Jersey: Transaction.
Levi, Primo. 1996. Nazi Assault on Humanity. New York: Simon & Schuster.
McLeod, W. H. 1989. The Sikhs: History, Religion, and Society. New York: Columbia University Press.
Moltke, Helmuth James von. 1990. Letters to Freya: 1939–1945. Beate Ruhm von Oppen (ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Nehru, Jawaharlal. 1942. Glimpses of World History. New York: The John Day Company.
Niebuhr, Reinhold. 1932. Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study of Ethics and Politics. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Olivelle, Patrick. 2005. Manu’s Code of Law: A Critical Edition and Translation of the Mānava-Dharmaśāstra. New York: Oxford University Press.
Radhanath Swami, H. H. ‘The Power of Association of Saintly Persons.’ 1 September 2011. http://radhanathswami.net/yearwise/1990/90-015-the-power-of-association-of-saintly-persons-sb-7-1.9-by-radhanath-swami-mumbai (accessed 12 March 2013).
Rasmussen, Larry L. 2005. Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Reality and Resistance. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press.
Ravi, V. 2010. Lalita Sahasranamam: A Comprehensive Treatise. India: Manblunder Publication.
Reiter, Andrea, and Patrick Camiller. 2005. Narrating the Holocaust. London: Continuum.
Sandoz, Ellis (ed.). 1990. The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin. 12. Published Essays 1966–1985. Missouri: University of Missouri Press.
Savarkar, Veer. 1912–1920. [WWW] Letters from Andamans. http://www.savarkar.org/en/armed-struggle/letters-andaman (accessed 22 May 2013).
Singh, Bhai Sahib Randhir. 2012. ‘Letter from Multan Prison, 1917.’ In Autobiography of Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh: Freedom Fighter, Reformer, Theologian, Saint and Hero of Lahore Conspiracy Case, First Prisoner of Gurdwara Reform Movement. (Electronic Edition). Trilochan Singh (trans.), http://www.vidhia.com/index.php?q=f&f=/Bhai%20Randheer%20Singh%20Ji (accessed 26 July 2014).
— ‘Letter from Central Jail Rajahmundary, 24 March 1922.’ In Singh 2012.
— ‘First Letter from Nagpur Prison, 1923.’ In Singh 2012.
— ‘1st Letter to Bhai Surjan Singh from Nagpur Prison, 1923.’ In Singh 2012.
SWJN: Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru. 1973–1980. 13 volumes. New Delhi: Orient Longman.
Tillich, Paul. 1959. Theology of Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Vanhoozer, Kevin J. 1998. Is There a Meaning in the Text? The Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Verdoner, Yoka, Hilde Verdoner-Sluizer and Kan Francisca Verdoner Kan. 1990. Signs of Life: The Letters of Hilde Verdoner-Sluizer from Nazi Transit Camp Westerbork, 1942–1944. Washington, DC: Acropolis Books.
Weissman, Toby (ed.). 2004. Last Letters from the Shoah. Israel: Devora.
Wilson, Anita. 2000. ‘“Absolute Truly Brill to See from You”: Visuality and Prisoners’ Letters.’ In David Barton and Nigel Hall (eds.), Letter Writing as a Social Practice: 179–98. Studies in Writing Language and Literacy, 9. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/swll.9.10wil
Wind, Renate. 1992. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.