(1935–2001)

(Full name Ken Elton Kesey) American novelist and nonfiction writer.

Kesey became acquainted with the Beat Generation during the 1950s, when he was a teenager in California. He later cited Beat writers Jack Kerouac, John Clellon Holmes, and William S. Burroughs as having a profound influence on his writing style. His most famous work, the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962), was inspired by his stint as a night attendant in the psychiatric ward of a California hospital. In that work, a mental hospital serves as a metaphor for the oppressive and mechanized nature of modern society. During the 1960s, Kesey’s experiences as part of the Merry Pranksters—a group that included Beat Generation notable Neal Cassady, among others—informed his approach to his writing as well as his life-style.

Biographical Information

Kesey was born in La Junta...