Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine, unopposed by her patients, who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electric shock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy - the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inmates. His struggle is seen through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a seemingly mute half-Indian patient who understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them imprisoned. Ken Kesey's extraordinary first novel is an exuberant, ribald and devastatingly honest portrayal of the boundaries between sanity and madness.
Ken Kesey Books
September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001
Ken Kesey achieved international renown for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , a powerful exploration of institutional control and individual rebellion. Emerging as a counterculture icon in the 1960s, his life became intertwined with psychedelic exploration, profoundly influencing his literary style and themes. Kesey's narrative approach often delves into altered states of consciousness and critiques societal norms, drawing from his personal experiences within psychiatric settings and his association with the Merry Pranksters. Beyond his seminal work, his literary output included explorations of community, family conflict, and later, children's literature and experimental prose.
Sometimes a Great Notion
- 599 pages
- 21 hours of reading
The Stampers, a logging family pit by circumstance against big business, are rough, hard men and women who live by the motto "never give an inch." Added to the turmoil is the return of Leland, a dope-smoking, college educated half brother whose arrival triggers a tidal wave of events that spiral gradually out of control
Kesey is the author of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Featuring such characters as Buffalo Bill Cody and wrestler Frank "The Crusher" Gotch, this book is both a historical novel and a dime Western. It is set in the tiny town of Pendleton, home of the rodeo showdown.
Sailor Song
- 574 pages
- 21 hours of reading
Een afgelegen vissersdorp aan de kust van Alaska schrikt op wanneer er plotseling een schitterend jacht uit Hollywood komt aanzeilen om er een Indiaanse sage te verfilmen.
Demon Box
- 357 pages
- 13 hours of reading
In this collection of short stories, Ken Kesey challenges public and private demons with a wrestler's brave and deceptive embrace, making it clear that the energy of madness must live on.
En eentje zag ze vliegen
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Contact paperback
- 287 pages
- 11 hours of reading
Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, this is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, fun-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the struggle through the eyes of Chief Bromden, the seemingly mute half-Indian patient who witnesses and understands McMurphy's heroic attempts to do battle with the awesome power of the Combine Kesey's galvanizing novel probes the meaning of madness, often turning the conventional notion of sanity on its head, and offers and unforgettable portrait of a man teaching the value of self-reliance and laughter who is destroyed by the forces of hatred and fear.
Joskus tekee mieli
- 411 pages
- 15 hours of reading
Rodeo
- 293 pages
- 11 hours of reading
Českým čtenářům se již dostala do rukou kniha "Skříňka s démonem", která začíná Keseyho propuštěním z vězení, kde autor v roce 1967 strávil šest měsíců kvůli obvinění z držení marihuany. Během pobytu v kriminále vznikly „Zápisky z lochu“ s podtitulem „Nechte ty k****y běžet“, v nichž se mísí záznamy bizarních snů s ještě bizarnějšími rozhovory mezi vězni, s dopisy ženě, anekdotami a básněmi, a vznikají tak výmluvné portréty spoluvězňů i dozorců. Obraz života vězeňské komunity, "šílenějšího než v pakárně", dotvářejí pestrobarevné koláže. Základem knihy byly poznámkové bloky, které Kesey ve vězení popsal a pokreslil. Při jeho propuštění byly některé ze zápisníků zabaveny a ztratily se, mnohé se ale podařilo zachránit. Po návratu domů Kesey přetvořil náčrtky a zápisky v koláže a uspořádal z nich soubor, který se podařilo vydat až téměř po třiceti letech, kdy dal autor knize její současnou podobu. Deník je nejen uměleckým dílem literárním, ale i výtvarným, a navíc slouží jako sonda do myšlení těch Američanů, kteří se v padesátých a šedesátých letech nechtěli smířit s americkou vnitřní ani zahraniční politikou.
