Most Popular Books by Ken Kesey

"Powerful, poetic realism...makes the tired old subject of life in a mental hospital into an absorbing Orwellian microcosm of all humanity."—Life. An international bestseller and the basis for a hugely successful film, Ken Kesey''s One Flew Over the Cuckoo''s Nest was one of the defining works of the 1960s. This Viking Critical Library edition is accompanied by essays, discussion topics, a chronology, and a bibliography. A mordant, wickedly subversive parable set in a mental ward, the novel chronicles the head-on collision between its hell-raising, life-affirming hero Randle Patrick McMurphy and the totalitarian rule of Big Nurse. McMurphy swaggers into the mental ward like a blast of fresh air and turns the place upside down, starting a gambling operation, smuggling in wine and women, and egging on the other patients to join him in open rebellion. But McMurphy''s revolution against Big Nurse and everything she stands for quickly turns from sport to a fierce power struggle with shattering results. With One Flew Over the Cuckoo''s Nest, Kesey created a work without precedent in American literature, a novel at once comic and tragic that probes the nature of madness and sanity, authority and vitality. Greeted by unanimous acclaim when it was first published, the book has become and enduring favorite of readers.

The magnificent second novel from the legendary author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo''s Nest Following the astonishing success of his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo''s Nest, Ken Kesey wrote what Charles Bowden calls "one of the few essential books written by an American in the last half century." This wild-spirited tale tells of a bitter strike that rages through a small lumber town along the Oregon coast. Bucking that strike out of sheer cussedness are the Stampers. Out of the Stamper family''s rivalries and betrayals Ken Kesey has crafted a novel with the mythic impact of Greek tragedy. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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.

This epic tale of the north is a vibrant moral fable for our time. Set in the near future in the fishing village of Kuinak, Alaska, a remnant outpost of the American frontier not yet completely overcome by environmental havoc and mad-dog development, Sailor Song is a wild, rollicking novel, a dark and cosmic romp. The town and its denizens—colorful refugees from the Lower Forty-Eight and DEAPs (Descendants of Early Aboriginal Peoples)—are seduced and besieged by a Hollywood crew, come to film the classic children''s book The Sea Lion. The ensuing turf war escalates into a struggle for the soul of the town as the novel spins and swirls toward a harrowing climax. Writing with a spectacular range of language and style, Kesey has given us a unique and powerful novel about America.

It was around a sagebrush campfire in eastern Oregon that Kesey first heard the tale from his father - about the legendary "last go round" that took place at the original Pendleton Round Up in 1911. Hundreds of riders were competing for the first World Championship Broncbusting title, but it was one special trio of buckeroos that provided the drama: a popular black cowboy, George Fletcher; a Nez Perce Indian cowboy, Jackson Sundown; and a fresh-faced kid from Tennessee name of Johnathan E. Lee Spain. Who would walk away with the prize money and the silver-studded saddle? When the dust cleared, everyone knew they''d witnessed something extraordinary. Kesey has journeyed back into Oregon history to reclaim this long-remembered moment, beefed up the bare bones of fact, and whipped them into a full-blown rip-snorting Tale of the True West. Sixteen pages of rare Round Up photographs provide graphic testimony of the time. The tiny town of Pendleton is swollen to bursting that memorable weekend and bristling with colorful characters like Buffalo Bill Cody, wrestler Frank "The Cruel Crusher" Gotch, cowgirl Prairie Rose Henderson, and a formidable medicine man named Parson Montanic. From the teepees along the river to the teeming saloons on Main Street, Round Up fever blazes like a prairie fire. This story of love, sweat, and horseflesh is a unique Western, wild and wooly and full of fleas. Let ''er buck!

A highly pictorial re-examination of the " legendary" 1964 Merry Pranksters'' trip across America made in a psychedelic bus, and featured in Jack Kerouac''s novel Òn the road''.

Kesey''s expanded version of the journals he kept while in San Mateo County Jail and Sheriff''s Honor Camp in 1967.

Interviews with the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo''s Nest

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A miscellanea mostly by Kesey, some by his friends.

Tricker may be a clever creature, but is he smart enough to bamboozle a double-big, double-hungry bear? From the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo''s Nest and the illustrator of the Newbery Honor Book In the Beginning. Full color throughout.

Considerado um dos 100 melhores livros de ficção em língua inglesa pela revista Time, o sucesso do cinema cult estrelado por Jack Nicholson chega à Amarcord. "Tinindo, tinindo, tilinta os dedinhos... [...] um voou para o leste, um voou para o oeste e um voou para fora, é um estranho no ninho..." É o som da cantiga popular de roda que os impulsos elétricos entoam na cabeça de Bromden, o narrador desta insólita aventura. Conhecido como Chefe Bromden, ele é um indígena mestiço alto e calado, herói de guerra e interno na ala de um hospital psiquiátrico nos Estados Unidos. Seus dias se perdem entre varrer indefinidamente a enfermaria e lidar com memórias e surtos alucinatórios motivados pelos repetidos abusos da equipe comandada pela enfermeira-chefe, a Srta. Ratched. Os dias são brancos, as noites, indiferentes. Mas algo muda com a chegada de uma nova figura, o Sr. R. P. McMurphy – um marginal condenado, viciado em jogos de azar e completamente insubordinado. Logo no primeiro contato, McMurphy e a Srta. Ratched se enfrentam, e esse antagonismo, levado adiante pela narrativa de Chefe Bromden, se torna não só uma grande alegoria do embate das forças culturais, morais e éticas dos anos 1960, mas também do próprio bem e mal como noções universais e repletas de matizes. A escrita de Ken Kesey é dinâmica. Não sem motivo, Um estranho no ninho foi adaptado para o cinema em 1975, o que lhe rendeu o Oscar de melhor filme, melhor diretor para Miloš Forman, melhor ator para Jack Nicholson e melhor atriz para Louise Fletcher. Ao expor a vivência de alguns homens de uma ala psiquiátrica para o mundo, Kesey despertou o interesse de muitos para o tema da saúde mental e os diversos significados de liberdade. Sem dúvida, um clássico rebelde da literatura do século 20. A presente edição conta com apresentação inédita de Natalia Timerman e prefácio de Joel Birman, ambos psicanalistas e escritores premiados. "Um trabalho de grande mérito literário [...]. O que o Sr. Kesey fez em seu romance pouco convencional foi transformar a ala de internos de um hospital psiquiátrico em uma alegoria sobre o bem e o mal." – The New York Times "Uma estreia literária brilhante [...]. Uma história forte e calorosa sobre a natureza do bem e do mal no ser humano. Kesey fez de seu livro um grito de protesto contra as regras de uma sociedade medíocre e aqueles que as reforçam." – Time "O triunfo final destes homens, a custo de terríveis sacrifícios, arrepia a todas as pessoas que leem. As cenas desse romance têm vivacidade cinematográfica." – The Washington Post "Um livro espetacular [...]. Os personagens são originais e reais [...]. Este é um depoimento contra o crescente controle sobre o ser humano e a sua mente, ainda que não seja panfletário. E tampouco o autor esquece que há uma linha tênue entre a tragédia e a comédia." – Houston Chronicle

"Eine der wichtigsten literarischen Publikationen der Nachkriegszeit." (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) Eines der großen tragikomischen Bücher der Gegenwartsliteratur. Voller Realistik, unglaublichem Humor und Sympathie für die Opfer erzählt der junge Autor Ken Kesey von der ständigen Bevormundung der Insassen einer Heilanstalt. Der Film von Milos Forman mit Jack Nicholson in der Hauptrolle wurde mit fünf "Oscars" ausgezeichnet.

Gökboet är en mäktig och provokativ roman av författaren Ken Kesey som tar oss med på en omskakande resa in i den psykiatriska världen på 1960-talet. Huvudpersonen Randle McMurphy, en livlig och rebellisk man, simulerar galenskap för att undvika fängelsestraff och hamnar istället på en mentalsjukhusavdelning. I denna klaustrofobiska och manipulativa miljö möter McMurphy en rad fascinerande karaktärer, inklusive den auktoritära sjuksköterskan Mildred Ratched. Konflikten mellan McMurphy och Ratched blir en kamp om makt och individualitet, där frågan om vad som egentligen definierar galenskap och friskhet ställs på sin spets. Genom sin skarpa prosa och gripande berättelse belyser Kesey samhällets undertryckande strukturer och ifrågasätter normer och konventioner. Gökboet är en banbrytande roman som utmanar vår syn på mental hälsa och individualitet, och lämnar läsaren med en djupgående reflektion över mänsklighetens villkor. I översättning av Ingvar Skogsberg KEN KESEY [1935-2001] var en amerikansk författare och ikon för counterculture-rörelsen på 1960-talet. Han är mest känd för sin roman Gökboet, som delvis hämtade inspiration från Keseys egna erfarenhet av att jobba på ett mentalsjukhus. Keseys verk blandar satir, social kritik och surrealism och utforskar teman som individualitet, uppror mot konformitet och människans längtan efter frihet.

« Après Vol au-dessus d’un nid de coucou, Kesey donne une fois de plus vie à des personnages inoubliables. Pénétrer dans Et quelquefois j’ai comme une grande idée, c’est pénétrer dans le monde fou et fascinant d’une famille elle-même folle et fascinante, au quotidien exaltant et à l’attachement forcené à la vie. On y retrouve ce don exceptionnel pour la comédie et une écriture tout simplement sensationnelle. Lorsque Kesey décrit le vol d’oies du Canada au-dessus des bois, on est presque en mesure de les voir ; lorsqu’il évoque l’odeur de l’herbe et le goût des fraises, on sent, on goûte et on ressent. » — San Francisco Chronicle« Une immense réussite. Avec pour arrière-plan l’environnement moite et rude d’une communauté de bûcherons de l’Oregon, ce livre laisse échapper halètements, souffles, cris, hurlements... Impossible de ne pas admirer la vigueur de Kesey et sa maîtrise prodigue de la langue. Quant à la capacité de l’auteur à créer des personnages, elle est époustouflante. » — The Cleveland Plain Dealer« Et quelquefois j’ai comme une grande idée, un grand livre dans tous les sens du terme, qui capte l’atmosphère d’une Amérique d’après-guerre (de Corée) comme aucun autre bouquin auparavant. Kesey nous présente dans cette œuvre riche des gens qui perpétuent un mode de vie passé, au-delà des associations de parents, des pubs pour la bière ou encore de l’immense aura de l’époque. » — The New York Times Book Review« Avec son premier roman, Kesey a prouvé qu’il était un grand écrivain, à la fois inventif et ambitieux – des qualités qui s’avèrent encore plus manifestes dans Et quelquefois j’ai comme une grande idée. L’auteur y développe un récit fascinant par le biais d’une technique tout aussi fascinante : le changement rapide de points de vue, stratégie expérimentée par de nombreux romanciers, dont certains ont même tenté de mélanger passé et présent. Selon moi, Kesey est celui qui est allé le plus loin dans l’expérimentation, et l’utilisation de cette technique lui permet d’atteindre son but : suggérer la complexité de la vie et l’absence de vérité absolue. » — Saturday Review« Un roman plein de vie et de relief. Kesey est un grand auteur qui possède son propre mode d’expression. Quiconque intéressé par les trésors littéraires américains devrait avoir envie de le lire. » — Chicago Tribune« Le lecteur ferait mieux d’enfiler un cache-nez et un ciré avant d’entamer la lecture de ce roman : l’Oregon est un territoire froid et humide, et Kesey un auteur au réalisme saisissant ! Il se révèle à la fois poète et paysan, aussi riche et vorace que peuvent l’être la rivière et les bois. » — Los Angeles Times

Devenu un classique contemporain, le roman de Ken Kesey, paru en 1962, n''a rien perdu de sa puissance. Il plonge dans le chaos d''un hôpital psychiatrique "un monde de carton-pâte peuplé de personnages en trompe-l''oeil, surgis de quelque histoire de fou qui serait vraiment drôle si ces héros n''étaient pas des types en chair et en os". L''infirmière en chef Ratched règne en maître sur son service. Jusqu''au jour où débarque McMurphy, un sacré énergumène bien décidé à redistribuer les cartes et à redonner un peu de dignité et d''espoir aux malades. Rebelle et gouailleur, il engage alors à ses risques et périls une résistance acharnée contre l''institution. Criant de vérité, Vol au-dessus d''un nid de coucou est une dénonciation en règle de l''enfermement psychiatrique, un hymne à la vie envers et contre tous.

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey. In Traditional Chinese. Annotation copyright Tsai Fong Books, Inc. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.