Kesey

[Cal McInvale]

>Kesey lives down the road from me. Though he has recently mourned the death
>of the novel as an animate art form (he's opting for multimedia projects),
>he continues to speak fondly of Notion.  Anyone who lives or has lived in
>Oregon knows the unremitting genius of that book--so far superior to
>Cuckoo's Nest.
>
>Steelhead

So now one has to have lived in Oregon in order to appreciate literature?
Sounds kind of like the Pauline "saved by grace" theology -- you've got to
experience this mystical thing to really understand God. Next you'll be
telling us that unless we've dropped acid, then we don't really understand
Pynchon.

I've never heard any reliable criticism that says Notion is better that
Cuckoo's Nest. I even recall Kesey once saying that while Notion was still
closest to his heart (what first novel isn't to the writer?), Cuckoo's Nest
was his best. Even the dullest freshman lit teacher knows this -- that's
why they teach it instead of Notion.

Why don't you bop on down the road and ask Kesey, since you guys are so
damn tight? And lay off Bonnie's case, wouldya?


Cal McInvale       e-mail:  godot at wolfe.net
WWW: http://www.wolfe.com/~godot/index.html
--------------
What is most appealing about young folks, after all, is the changes, not
the still photographs of finished character but the movie, the soul in
flux.  -- Thomas Pynchon