Ken Kesey is the author of the acclaimed and well-known novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." He spent most of his life away from big cities, and as a child grew up in a very strict and religious family. However, Ken Kesey’s biography is still filled with a number of interesting and unexpected moments.
In the middle of September - the 17th - 1935, Ken Elton Kesey was born. The future outstanding writer was born in a provincial, very small and quiet town called La Junta. This settlement is located in the state of Colorado, which is located in the United States. Frederick Kesey, the father of the boy, was engaged in the production of oil. Geneva Smith, a mother, has devoted herself to housekeeping and raising a son. It should be noted that in general, the Kesey family was extremely pious, this affected the upbringing Ken received. The religious component of life was of great importance to his parents.
Kizi Ken biography: childhood, youth
Ken's childhood and youth did not pass in La Hunt. When he was 11 years old, he and his parents moved to the suburbs of Springfield (Willamet Valley), which is located in Oregon. In that place, his grandfather once had a farm on which the family settled safely.
Due to the fact that religion dominated the life of Kesey’s parents, the boy was initially sent to receive education in a parish local school. After studying there for some time, Ken went to a regular school, where he graduated from high school.
After graduating from school, Ken Kesey went to local college, but did not graduate. After a while, he repeated his attempt to get higher education, choosing Origon University for this. He entered the faculty of journalism, where he was successfully carried away by literature and creativity. During his studies, Kesey received a grant, and after graduating from the university he continued his education at the Stanford Institute, choosing a literary faculty for himself and closely engaged in writing. In order to still get a diploma while studying at a paid faculty, Ken Kesey was forced to get a job in a hospital for veterans as an orderly and assistant medical psychologist. It was there that Kesey's fateful acquaintance with LSD and a number of other drugs that alter consciousness occurred.
It is worth noting that initially Ken Kesey had no plans to become a writer, to connect his life with this kind of creativity. Even in college, he was very fond of sports, participated in state championships in wrestling and wrestling. The young man planned to build a sports career and was even enrolled in the Olympic team. However, at one point he received a serious shoulder injury, because of this he had to forget about sports.
Crazy period in the life of Kesey
Despite the fact that Ken was from a religious and fairly strict family, it did not hurt him to get together and run away from home one day. At that time — in the 1960s — the hippy movement was gaining popularity. As a result, Ken Kesey and joined him. The company to young Ken was his school friend named Faye Huxby.
In 1964, Kesey put together his personal hippie commune. Young people arranged noisy parties, offered psychotropic drugs to everyone, supported budding music groups and enjoyed life to the fullest.
Reckless life was not for Ken Kesey in vain. US law enforcement agencies became interested in both the hippy community and Kesey himself. Realizing that he could be charged with possession and distribution of drugs, Ken Kesey fled to Mexico. However, hiding for a long time did not work, despite the fact that he even tried to stage his death. A little less than a year after the escape, Kesey returned to the states, where he was arrested. Based on the results of the trial, Ken Kesey was prescribed six months in prison.
Writer's career and literary work
Kisey’s first writing work was a story called The Zoo. He wrote it in 1959. However, the matter did not reach the publication of this work. Perhaps, for the reason that the short story was in a “raw version”, and Kesey himself quickly “burned out” to this work, did not finish it, switching to new plots.
The next creative work, written during 1960, was a small partly autobiographical essay - "The End of Autumn." However, the story repeated with this work - it was not published.
In 1962, Ken Kesey completed work on the book "Flying Over the Cuckoo's Nest." He got the idea and inspiration for this work, working in the hospital. Working on his work on a psychiatric hospital, Kesey continued to take psychotropic drugs, which he later shared in an interview. As a result, everything went smoothly and the work was published. However, initially the novel did not attract much attention, literary critics were restrained and spoke little about it. However, this story has interested theatrical figures. One year after the release of the novel, a performance was put on light that was a success. It was the transfer of the work to the theatrical stage that allowed Kesey to become famous.
Ken Kesey’s next work, “Sometimes a Whimmy is Great, ” was again successful and was filmed.
After two voluminous literary works, the already recognized writer switched to smaller forms, began writing short stories and essays, and took notes for newspapers. He also published collections of his stories, which appeared on sale in 1973 and in 1986.
In 1992 and 1994, two more great novels by Ken Kesey came out. The last book was written along with Kesey's longtime friend named Ken Bubbs.
The final story in Ken Kesey’s biography was released after the author’s death. Prison Magazine went out of print in 2003.
Personal life, love and family
Ken Kesey has never been officially married. However, his whole life he lived, relatively speaking, in a civil marriage with the previously mentioned Faye Huxby. From this union three children were born.
Throughout his life, Ken also had a short relationship with a girl named Caroline Adams, from whom the writer had a daughter. Fei did not impede this relationship. Perhaps the role was played by certain outlooks on life, formed under the influence of the hippie movement.
