Better Inside

THE PRISON LIFE OF HARRIS FILMORE

(224 pp.)--Jack Richardson--New York

Graphic Society ($3.95).

After 53 years of following all the rules, Bank President Harris Filmore made a slip and was sentenced to ten years for fraud. It cost him his wife, his twelve-room house in Westchester and the approval of his peers. He is sent to grim Audton prison, where, as Convict 3355, Filmore is closeted with assorted thieves, rapists and murderers.

But the point is that the rules are easier to follow inside Audton than outside. Under the ministrations of Warden Goad, Filmore discovers that each hour is filled with well-managed activity. His muscle tone responds to early rising and hard work; his dormant mind is stimulated by his cerebral fellow cons. "Here," says one eloquently, "here, there is near perfection. The rules cover everything, from your sex life to your shoelaces."

Thoroughly revitalized, Filmore rejoices in an existence where "nothing is demanded of him but that he give himself to the currents of commands and orders emanating from Goad."

This is a first novel by a playwright with a considerable off-Broadway reception (The Prodigal, Gallows Humor) and a recent on-Broadway flop (Lorenzo) to his credit. In it, Richardson plays hide-and-seek with the questions of freedom, reality and life's purpose. Despite the author's overfondness for obscure--and sometimes misspelled--words, such as lachrymator, ecdysize, catasta, edacious and vibrissae,* Filmore's wide-eyed discovery that stone walls do not a prison make has some fine moments of upside-down humor. When his rollicking stay behind bars is ended by an untimely parole, Filmore promptly holds up a Salvation Army Mission and steals the collection box in order to speed his return to dear old Audton--and (misspelled?) Goad.

* Tear gas, to undress, slave block, voracious, nostril hairs.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.