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, the biography of Ken Kesey is still filled with a number of interesting and unexpected moments.
In mid-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 locality is located in the state of Colorado, which is located in the United States. Frederic Kesey, the boy's father, was engaged in the production of butter. Geneva Smith, a mother, devoted herself to the household and raising her son. It should be noted that in general, the Kesey family was extremely devout, this affected the upbringing that Ken received. The religious component of life was of great importance to his parents.
Biography of Kesey Ken: childhood, youth
Ken's childhood and adolescence did not pass in La Junta. When he was 11 years old, he and his parents moved to the suburb of Springfield (Willamette Valley), which is located in Oregon. In that place, his grandfather once had a farm, where the family settled safely.
Due to the dominance of religion in the lives of Kesey's parents, the boy was initially sent to be educated at a local parish school. After studying there for some time, Ken moved to a regular school, where he graduated from high school.
After graduating from school, Ken Kesey entered a local college, but did not finish it. After a while, he repeated his attempt to get a higher education, choosing Origon University for this. He entered the faculty of journalism, where he happily became interested in 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 for himself a literary department and taking up writing. In order to still get a diploma, studying at a paid faculty, Ken Kesey was forced to get a job at a hospital for veterans in the role of 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 took place.
It is worth noting that initially Ken Kesey had no plans to become a writer, to connect his life with this type of creativity. While still in college, he was very fond of sports, participated in the 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.
A crazy period in the life of Kesey
Despite the fact that Ken was from a religious and rather strict family, it didn’t stop him from getting up and running away from home. During this period of time - in the 1960s - the hippie movement was gaining popularity. As a result, Ken Kesey joined him. Young Ken was accompanied by his school friend Faye Haxby.
In 1964, Kesey gathered his personal hippie commune. Young people arranged noisy parties, offered psychotropic drugs to everyone, supported novice musical groups and enjoyed life to the fullest.
Reckless life was not in vain for Ken Kesey. US law enforcement agencies are interested in both the hippie commune 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 fake his death. A little less than a year after his escape, Kesey returned to the states, where he was arrested. As a result of the trial, Ken Kesey was sentenced to six months in prison.
Writing career and literary creation
Kesey's first writing was a story called The Zoo. He wrote it in 1959. However, it never came to the publication of this work. Perhaps for the reason that the story was in a "raw version", and Kesey himself quickly "burned out" to this work, did not begin to modify it, switching to new plots.
The next creative work, written during 1960, was a small, partially autobiographical sketch - "The End of Autumn". However, history repeated itself with this work - it was not published.
In 1962, Ken Kesey completed One One One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He got the idea and inspiration for this work while working in a hospital. While working on his work about 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, theatrical figures were interested in this story. A year after the release of the novel, a performance was staged, which was a success. It was the transfer of the work to the theatrical stage that allowed Kesey to become famous.
The next work of Ken Kesey - "Sometimes a great whim" - was again a success 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 went on sale in 1973 and 1986.
In 1992 and 1994, two more big novels by Ken Kesey were released. The last book was written with a longtime friend of Kesey named Ken Babbs.
The final collection of stories in the biography of Ken Kesey was released after the death of the author. "Prison Journal" was published in 2003.
Personal life, love and family
Ken Kesey has never been officially married. However, all his life he lived, relatively speaking, in a civil marriage with the previously mentioned Fay Haxby. From this union three children were born.
During his life, Ken also had a short relationship with a girl named Caroline Adams, with whom the writer had a daughter. Faye did not interfere with this relationship. Perhaps the role was played by certain views on life, formed under the influence of the hippie movement.
Details of the death of Ken Kesey
The recognized writer spent the rest of his life in the countryside, on a farm.
Kesey was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, which severely undermined his health. Later, doctors made a dangerous new diagnosis - liver cancer.
In 2001, it became known that Ken Kesey suffered a stroke and was taken to the Sacred Heart Hospital. Despite the prompt actions of doctors and a short-term improvement, about two weeks later, Ken Kesey died in a hospital ward at the age of 67.
Date of death of the writer: November 10, 2001.
