One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | Cultural Climate in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
In the following essay Ian Currie looks at the cultural climate that inspired the writing of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and discusses how a reader may interpret the book by keeping its origins in mind.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has sold over eight million copies since its publication in 1962. Imagine a first novel so relevant to popular audiences and universities alike that it has spawned an Academy Award-winning film as well as hundreds, if not thousands, of academic articles, essays, and dissertations. Ken Kesey's first novel was certainly a blockbuster in every sense of the word, but what does this mean to readers thirty-five years and more after the fact? Cuckoo's Nest captured the fear and uncertainty of a postwar generation who came of age with the...
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