Ken Kesey

Ken Kesey
Kenneth Elton "Ken" Keseywas an American novelist, essayist, and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth17 September 1935
CityLa Junta, CO
CountryUnited States of America
lying moving writing
When Shakespeare was writing, he wasn't writing for stuff to lie on the page; it was supposed to get up and move around.
writing famous-writers enjoyed
I've enjoyed being a famous writer-except that every once in a while you have to write something.
writing america get-better
Me and Norman Mailer have talked about how hard it is in America to get better. Especially at writing.
writing thinking forever
I felt like you can write forever, but you have a short time to raise a family. And I think a family is a lot more important than writing.
book writing taught-us
Luckily, I remembered something Malcolm Cowley had taught us at Stanford - perhaps the most important lesson a writing class (not a writer, understand, but a class) can ever learn. 'Be gentle with one another's efforts,' he often admonished us. 'Be kind and considerate with your criticism. Always remember that it's just as hard to write a bad book as it is to write a good book.'
cat writing gone
But the more I read... after awhile... I begin to find they were all writing about the same thing, this same dull old here-today-gone-tomorrow scene... Shakespeare, Milton, Matthew Arnold, even Baudelaire, even this cat whoever he was that wrote Beowulf... the same scene for the same reasons and to the same end, whether it was Dante with his pit or Baudelaire with his pot... the same dull old scene...
came period remember
Each little flake that comes off of it, I can remember the period that flake came from.
eisenhower voted
I'm so insane, I voted for Eisenhower.'' ''Oh yeah, well I'm so insane, I voted for Eisenhower TWICE!'
eisenhower voted voting
''I'm so insane, I voted for Eisenhower.'' ''Oh yeah, well I'm so insane, I voted for Eisenhower TWICE!''
fat gets lady means prefer takes till whatever
But as Garcia said, you know, the '60s ain't over till the fat lady gets high. And that means that whatever it takes to get you high: sometimes grief, sometimes it's prayer, fasting. I prefer a joint.
american-author classes college given prepare study time
We thought that by this time that there would be LSD given in classes in college and you would study it and prepare for it.
ask best describing living ought people rather stepping work
When people ask what my best work is, it's the bus. I thought you ought to be living your art, rather than stepping back and describing it.
totally
It's been totally successful. Of course, we don't keep any records, so how do we know,
cutting drama edge literature quill shakespeare theatrical whatever
If Shakespeare were working right now, he wouldn't be working with a quill pen. He would be working with whatever the cutting edge of theatrical drama would be. And this is where literature is headed.