Bibliograph

Riots I have known, by Ryan Chapman

Type

Label

Riots I have known, by Ryan Chapman

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

fiction

Main title

Riots I have known

Oclc number

1043954809

Responsibility statement

by Ryan Chapman

Summary

An unnamed Sri Lankan inmate has barricaded himself inside a prison coputer lab in Dutchess County, New York. A riot rages outside, incited by a poem published in The Holding Pen, the house literary journal. This, our narrator's final Editor's Letter, is his confession. An official accounting of events, as they happened. As he awaits imminent and violent interruption, he takes us on a roller-caster ride of plot and language, determined to share his life story, and maybe answer a few questions. How did he end up here? Should he have remained a quiet Park Avenue doorman? Or continued his rise in the black markets of postwar Sri Lanka? What will become of The Holding Pen, a "landmark of post-penal literature" favored by Brooklynites everywhere? And why does everyone think the riots are his fault? Can't they see he's really a good guy, doing it for the right reasons?

Classification