Finding a Polity in Prison Writing

By Duygy Erbil

We recently asked the early contributors to the Polity of Literature series to tell us about projects or persons or places that make them believe a “polity of literature” is real and can be found here and now. Duygu Erbil, a scholar of literature and activism at Utrech University (who earlier wrote for us about the American Prison Writing Archive), found one example in an anonymous Turkish group of “prison-associated artists and writers” called Görüşeceğiz (a salutation prisoners use, meaning we will see each other again). Görüşeceğiz posts writing and art by prisoners using a variety of online platforms. Presenting the old and canonical alongside the new and unvetted—while also performing as anonymous hosts who model a kind of general appreciation for every act of expression, every disclosure in what is a decidedly egalitarian “space of appearance”—Görüşeceğiz maintains the pluralism that is necessary for a polity. If this is “literature,” then Görüşeceğiz is a functioning Polity of Literature.

Görüşeceğiz thus forces the question, can “literature” exist without a hierarchy? Can there be literature apart from designations of “good” or “bad,” “high” and “low,” or “necessary” versus “disposable?” To enter a polity we must leave our hierarchies at the door. If Görüşeceğiz can teach us how to read and write together—without always talking about our tastes—maybe it can give us a living Polity of Literature, here and now.

Finding a Polity in Prison Writing

1 March, 2022