I don't have CELL 2455, DEATH ROW, but I do have, but haven't
read, The Kid Was A Killer, "A Gold Medal Novel by by Caryl
Chessman," "Whose fight for life has inflamed passions the
world over." It's "A searing novel of violence in the hearts
of men."
The first page describes it as: "This is Caryl Chessman's
fourth book, his only work of fiction. We print it just as we
received it from San Quentin. In it, the author of Cell 2455,
Death Row creates a character who has reason to hate the
world, and who spends his brief adult life courting death . .
."
The back jacket copy is a note from Chessman:
"Remember: The protagonist of the story, the kid, was a
killer. That was and is the simple, stark fact; that was and
remains my point in authoring the type of novel I did. I
wanted to examine violence--its meaning, its psychological
roots, its social implications--in dramatic terms. If I
succeeded to any degree, the thrust and power of the story
derives from its rawess, its unprettied crudities.
"The title squares with the unfortunate tendency of the
public to oversimplify both the genesis and motivation of the
disturbed, antisocial personality which, whether with a gun
or boxing gloves, violently expresses its rebellion, its
sickness. Let the reader, without being misled, discover for
himself my thesis.
"Sincerely,
"Caryl Chessman"
Maybe I should read it some day.
Mark
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