“A GREAT LITERARY CATHARSIS”

KESEY, Ken. Sometimes a Great Notion. New York: Viking, (1964). Octavo, original gray cloth, original dust jacket. $1500.

First edition, scarce first issue, of Kesey’s critically acclaimed second novel, basis for the 1971 film directed by and starring Paul Newman.

Following the success of his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962), Kesey, in this work about an Oregon logging family, "aimed higher than many of his contemporaries, and… [came] impressively close to his target" (Vinson, 754) "The novel's exquisite prose, which often reads like lyric poetry, draws us into the daily lives of the Stamper family… We've heard Sometimes described as a novel about a family feud. That's like saying War and Peace is about one of Napoleon's shorter-lived military campaigns. Each of the Stampers is a three-dimensional person, and that leads to some fun, some heartache and a great literary catharsis" (Henley, Wikelund & Lindquist, 39). Kesey's novel was adapted to the screen in 1971 by Paul Newman, who both directed and starred in the film. First issue, with publisher's logo on half title page, in first-state dust jacket with author photo credited to Hank Krangler on rear flap. Bruccoli & Clark I:221.

Book near-fine, with soiling to rear endpapers and minor foxing to edges of text block. Dust jacket fine.