The American writer Ken Kesey served as the main link between the hipsters of the 1950s and the counter-cultural movement of the 1960s, and the bus trip he made in 1964 with a group of followers was immortalized by Tom Wolfe in the Electro-Cooling Acid Test. Over time, Kesey will be considered as one of the main legislators of the counter-cultural movement of the 1960s. However, when he was a child and a young man, his dreams and achievements were “All-American”.
Biography
Ken Elton Kesey was born September 17, 1935 in La Hunt, Colorado, in the family of Fred A. and Geneva (Smith) Kesey. Since 1941, the family moved several times. And eventually settled in Eugene, Oregon, in 1946. Kesey later described his family as “hard shell” Baptists; he retained great respect for the Bible in adulthood.
As a schoolboy, Kesey was actively involved in sports, in high school he was fond of wrestling. In addition, he decorated the scenery for gatherings and plays, wrote sketches, and even received an award for best drama. After graduating from school, Ken left his father's house and entered Oregon University.
As in high school, Kesey was an active student at the University of Oregon, participated in theatrical productions, sports, was a brotherhood. He won the college award and wrote several dramatic and documentary screenplays for the course proposed by Dean Starlin. Kesey at the same time realized his love of sports, eventually earning a Fred Low scholarship for success in the fight. "His friends in the drama could not understand why he was on the wrestling team and connected with the athletes," said Stephen L. Tanner in his book Ken Kesey. And of course, his friends among the athletes could not understand why he was engaged with a theater group.
Stanford
Kesey received his bachelor's degree in 1957 and returned home, where he worked in his father's dairy business for a year. He decided to become a writer, although his future remained uncertain: at the insistence of his teachers, he applied for a Woodrow Wilson scholarship, which would allow him to continue his education. His application was approved, so in 1958, Kesey was at Stanford.
Kesey attended writing classes with Wallace Stegner and Malcolm Cowley and completed his first unpublished college track and field novel. Kizi's teachers at Stanford had a significant influence on his writing style, but his classmates, as well as countercultural movements, which were at the peak of their popularity, had an equal impact on him.
Ken Kesey visited the nearby North Beach beat community and read the works of Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Clellan Holmes. All these impressions formed the basis of the novel "Zoo". Although he could not find a publisher for the book, Stanford gave him a Saxton prize of $ 2,000 for part of the work.
Acid tests
As a student at Stanford, Ken Kesey was in dire need of money. He managed to get a job at the hospital for insane veterans of Menlo Park. There he worked since 1959 as an assistant psychiatrist and night hospital attendant. In the same place, he voluntarily participated in experiments, the purpose of which was to study the influence on the consciousness of psychedelics, such as mescaline and LSD. In addition, Kesey talked a lot with the patients of the clinic, often being under the influence of hallucinogens. “Flying Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” Ken Kesey will write based on this experience.
From this time on and for many years, psychoactive substances will become constant companions of the writer. In 1964, Ken Kesey founded the hippie commune called Merry Pranksters. They staged a kind of concert, at which everyone was offered a free acid test, that is, to use LSD. These events were accompanied by live music and lighting effects and were very popular. It is known that frequent guests at such parties were members of the Hell's Angels biker club (about which Hunter Thompson will write a novel of the same name) and poet Allen Ginsberg.
In the same year, Kesey acquires an old school bus, on which he makes the famous journey with members of the community. The final destination was the New York State Exposition. The path taken by The Pranksters not only formed the basis of the novel by T. Wolfe, the best book on hippies according to the New York Times, but was also called the strangest journey since the Argonauts campaign.
In 1965, Ken Kesey was arrested for possession of illicit drugs, but he managed to fabricate suicide and escape to Mexico. However, after 8 months, he returned to America, where he was re-arrested and sentenced to serve a prison term.
Kesey's friends raised money for his release by laying down their homes. The representatives of the law, learning about this, offered the writer a deal: he would be released if he publicly made a speech about the dangers of drugs. This was not a simple situation, since for years Kesey was the ideological inspirer of a whole generation of beatniks. If he agreed to the proposal, he would be considered a traitor. And refuse - not only would go to jail, but also crossed out the sacrifice of his comrades, who were actually left without housing for his freedom.
Ultimately, Ken Kesey spent 5 months in prison. The speech was still delivered, and Kesey was released. After that, he moved to the inherited farm in the Willamette Valley. Here he will spend the rest of his life with his family.
In the last years of his life, Ken Kesey was seriously ill, he suffered a stroke, he was also diagnosed with liver cancer and diabetes. The writer died on November 10, 2001. He was 66 years old.
Personal life
Kesey lived all his life with Faye Huxby. They fled home together after graduation. Since then, Fay has always been with Ken, although officially they were not married due to the specifics of their views. The couple had four children.
Creative heritage
Among Ken Kesey's books, there are 6 novels, two of which have never been published:
- "Zoo" (not published);
- "End of Autumn" (not published);
- “Flying over the cuckoo’s nest” (there is a translation option “Over the cuckoo’s nest”);
- “Sometimes a great whim” (translation options - “Times of happy insights” and “Sometimes you want to be unbearably”);
- "Song of the sailor";
- "The Last Run" (co-authored with Ken Babbs).
He also owns collections of short stories “When the Angels Came”, “Garage Sale”, “Prison Magazine”, plays “The Deceiver” and “Further Investigation”.
"Flying over Cuckoo's Nest"
The book was published in 1962. To Ken Kesey, “Flying Over the Cuckoo's Nest” brought fame, and among hippies and hipsters became a cult. The work is included in the list of the hundred best books written in English, according to Time magazine.
The action of the novel takes place within the walls of a mental hospital. The narration is on behalf of one of the patients nicknamed "Leader" Bromden, who pretends to be deaf and dumb. At the center of the story is another patient - McMurphy. He was transferred to a hospital from prison. The central conflict of the work is the confrontation between the head nurse Ratched Mildred and the patients of the clinic, led by McMurphy, who constantly breaks the rules and incites others to do so. He manages not only to organize a trip to sea fishing, but also secretly to conduct prostitutes in the institution.
For McMurphy himself, everything ends sadly: he is given a lobotomy. The leader saves him from having to eke out a miserable existence by strangling him with a pillow. At the end of the work, patients leave the walls of the hospital.
Reviews
About Ken Kesey’s novel, the reviews are mostly laudatory, which is quite remarkable for a book with such a difficult subject. Readers unanimously note the wonderful narrative syllable that allows you to fully immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the book. The central characters also enjoy constant reading love. The problems of the book, affecting the issue of human struggle with the system, according to readers, remain invariably relevant.
Among the shortcomings of the book, some protractedness was noted, as well as McMurphy’s sad fate at the end of the book. For some readers, his death was an unpleasant surprise, and also left a bitter aftertaste after reading.
Film adaptation
Ken Kesey’s novel "Above the Cuckoo's Nest" received a film incarnation in 1975. The director of the picture was Milos Forman. The title roles were played by Jack Nicholson (McMurphy), Will Sampson (Leader) and Louise Fletcher (sister Mildred). The film was first screened at a Chicago festival.
The film was perceived equally positively by both viewers and critics. This is the second film in history to receive 5 Oscars at once. In addition, the picture has 28 different awards.
However, Kesey himself was not at all pleased with such success. Moreover, he sued the directors for distorting the idea of ​​the work. In his opinion, in the McMurphy film, the role of the main character was erroneously attributed, while the value of the Leader is leveled.