Overview
Four years after the legendary 1964 bus trip immortalized in Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Ken Kesey began serving time in San Mateo County Jail for pot possession. Transferred to an experimental low-security "honor camp" in the redwood forest, he spent six months clearing brush and immersing himself in the life of the jail community, attempting to "bring light and color" to it. "This is crazier here than the nuthouse ever was," Kesey noted, and proceeded to record the scene in numerous notebooks, illustrated with intense and brilliantly colored artwork.
Upon returning to Oregon, Kesey turned the raw notebook material into an illustrated collage that stretched across dozens of 18" x 23" boards. Upon realizing that publication of the elaborate, handwritten book was more than his publisher was willing to attempt, he put it aside. Almost thirty years later he returned to the project and brought it to completion during the final years of his life. Fans of Ken Kesey's singular American voice will rejoice to hear it again in this unique and long-overdue volume. Those unfamiliar with Kesey's artwork are in for a revelation.
Synopsis
Four years after the legendary 1964 bus trip immortalized in Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Ken Kesey began serving time in San Mateo County Jail for pot possession. Transferred to an experimental low-security "honor camp" in the redwood forest, he spent six months clearing brush and immersing himself in the life of the jail community, attempting to "bring light and color" to it. "This is crazier here than the nuthouse ever was," Kesey noted, and proceeded to record the scene in numerous notebooks, illustrated with intense and brilliantly colored artwork.
Upon returning to Oregon, Kesey turned the raw notebook material into an illustrated collage that stretched across dozens of 18" x 23" boards. Upon realizing that publication of the elaborate, handwritten book was more than his publisher was willing to attempt, he put it aside. Almost thirty years later he returned to the project and brought it to completion during the final years of his life. Fans of Ken Kesey's singular American voice will rejoice to hear it again in this unique and long-overdue volume. Those unfamiliar with Kesey's artwork are in for a revelation.
Publishers Weekly
Author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and the leader of the Merry Pranksters, Kesey was a seminal '60s anti-authority figure-with some consequences via The Man. His lushly illustrated account of time in prison was begun in 1968, when Kesey was serving time for pot possession in an experimental low-security "camp." Kesey drew, collaged and wrote a running narrative of his experiences in several notebooks, which 30 years later, toward the end of his life, he assembled into this single work. The original intent was to contrast the swirling, colorful collages and watercolors of his jail surroundings-many of which suggest the influence of Blake-on the verso pages with printed text on facing rectos, but his later revision and considerable expansion of the text decidedly tilts toward the text. The latter reads like a time capsule of slang and drug references that will instantly transport those that partook: "Hot Double Damn! There's four STP tabs, couple of psilocybin pills and five good old Owsley purples!" A running confrontation with a camp supervisor named John Wayne illustrates Kesey's ongoing interest in authority figures out to crush the spirit, but does not resolve as it would in a work of fiction. While often silly and funny, Kesey also poignantly and often tragically depicts issues such as racial tension, mental instability and the eternal clash between order and freedom. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.