On the Yard by Malcolm Braly
A major American novel, and arguably the finest work of literature ever to emerge from a US prison, On the Yard is a book of penetrating psychological realism in which Malcolm Braly paints an unforgettable picture of the complex and frightening world of the penitentiary. At its center are the violently intertwined stories of Chilly Willy, in trouble with the law from his earliest years and now the head of the prison's flourishing black market in drugs and sex, and of Paul, wracked with guilt for the murder of his wife and desperate for some kind of redemption. At once brutal and tender, clear-eyed and rueful, On the Yard presents the penitentiary not as an exotic location, an exception to everyday reality, but as an ordinary place, one every reader will recognize, American to the core.Malcolm Braly was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1925 and died in 1980. Braly was raised in foster homes and institutions for delinquent children after his parents abandoned him, and by the age of forty, he had spent nearly seventeen years in prison for burglary, serving time at Nevada State Prison, San Quentin State Prison, and Folsom State Prison. He authored three novels while incarcerated: Felony Tank (1961), Shake Him Till He Rattles (1963), and It's Cold Out There (1966), and began writing on On the Yard after his release in 1965. When jail officials found out about the book, they threatened to revoke his parole, so he had to finish it in secret. On the Yard was published in 1967, after Braly's parole had expired, and gained widespread acclaim.
False Starts: A Memoir of San Quentin and Other Prisoners (1976) was his autobiography, and The Protector (1979) was his final piece of fiction. Malcolm Braly was free for fifteen years before dying in a car accident at the age of fifty-four. Jonathan Lethem is the author of seven books, including The Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn. He splits his time between Brooklyn and Maine.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780940322967 |
| ISBN 10 | 094032296X |
| Title | On the Yard |
| Author | Malcolm Braly |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | The New York Review of Books, Inc |
| Year published | 2002-01-31 |
| Number of pages | 368 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |