Subject
California State Prison at San Quentin -- Fiction Books
Best books
Jack London
The Jacket (The Star-Rover)
"The Jacket (The Star-Rover)" by Jack London is a novel published in 1915. The story follows Darrell Standing, a university professor imprisoned at San Quentin, who endures torture through a compression device called "the jacket." To survive, he enters trance states where he walks among the stars and experiences vivid past lives across different ages and cultures. London based the novel on interviews with a former convict who actually endured this torture device. The work blends science fiction with mysticism and reincarnation themes.
Jack London
Le vagabond des étoiles
"Le vagabond des étoiles" by Jack London is a novel published in 1915. Professor Darrel Standing awaits execution in California's Folsom Prison, where he has endured years in solitary confinement and torture by straitjacket. Through self-hypnosis, he escapes his unbearable reality by experiencing past lives—as a French count, a Dutch sailor, a Viking warrior, and more. This work blends stark prison realism with fantastical journeys through time, serving as both a fierce denunciation of America's brutal prison system and a testament to human imagination's power to transcend suffering.
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