Ken Kesey, Sometimes A Great Notion

Jill E. Anderson (Middle Tennessee State University)

Ed. by Christopher Hugh Gair, University of Glasgow
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1964

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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In the opening of Ken Kesey’s 1964 novel

Sometimes a Great Notion

(herein

Sometimes

), Leland Stamper receives a postcard from his hometown of Wakonda, Oregon, written by his cousin Joe Ben. The postcard arrives in the midst of a botched suicide attempt while Leland is in attendance at Yale. The postscript is written, “showing black and blacker, large and larger than all the rest of the message”, by Leland’s half-brother, Hank (Kesey 69). The postscript reads, “You should be a big enough guy now, bub”, and Leland fixates on the implied challenge to his masculinity (69, 70). After a mention of Hank’s wife, Viv, Leland sees the idea of his brother married as “so ludicrous that I found some actual humor in the idea, enough to give me a real laugh and the courage of contempt…

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2375 words

Citation: Anderson, Jill E.. "Sometimes A Great Notion". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 January 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1991, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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