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'''''Flowers for Algernon'''''
'''''Flowers for Algernon''''' is a [[science fiction]] [[short story]] and subsequent [[novel]] written by [[Daniel Keyes]]. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]]'', won the [[Hugo Award for Best Short Story]] in 1960.<ref name="Hugo" /> The novel was published in 1966 and was joint winner of that year's [[Nebula Award for Best Novel]] (with ''[[Babel-17]]'').<ref name="Nebula" />

The eponymous Algernon is a [[House Mouse|laboratory mouse]] who has undergone surgery to increase his intelligence by artificial means. The story is told by a series of progress reports written by Charlie Gordon, the first human test subject for the surgery, and it touches upon many different ethical and moral themes such as the treatment of the mentally disabled.<ref name="Hill4" />

Although the book has often been [[Challenge (literature)|challenged]] for removal from libraries in the US and Canada,<ref name="ALA100" /> sometimes successfully,<ref name="hillcensor" /> it is regularly taught in schools around the world<ref name="dkafaq" /> and has been adapted numerous times for television, theatre, radio and as the [[Academy Award]]-winning film ''[[Charly]]''.
Although the book has often been [[Challenge (literature)|challenged]] for removal from libraries in the US and Canada,<ref name="ALA100" /> sometimes successfully,<ref name="hillcensor" /> it is regularly taught in schools around the world<ref name="dkafaq" /> and has been adapted numerous times for television, theatre, radio and as the [[Academy Award]]-winning film ''[[Charly]]''.


Revision as of 22:18, 15 March 2013

This article is about the short story and novel. For the West End musical starring Michael Crawford, see Charlie and Algernon. For the Kyosuke Himuro album, see Flowers for Algernon (album).
Flowers for Algernon
1st edition cover
AuthorDaniel Keyes
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction
PublisherHarcourt, Brace & World
Publication date
April 1959 (short story)
March 1966 (novel)
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages274 (novel)[1]
ISBNISBN 0-15-131510-8 (first edition, hardback) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
OCLC232370

Flowers for Algernon Although the book has often been challenged for removal from libraries in the US and Canada,[2] sometimes successfully,[3] it is regularly taught in schools around the world[4] and has been adapted numerous times for television, theatre, radio and as the Academy Award-winning film Charly.

Background

The ideas for Flowers for Algernon developed over a period of 14 years and were inspired by numerous events in Keyes's life, starting in 1945 with Keyes's personal conflict with his parents who were pushing him through a pre-medical education in spite of his desire to pursue a writing career. Keyes felt that his education was driving a wedge between him and his parents and this led him to wonder what would happen if it were possible to increase a person’s intelligence.[4][5][6] A pivotal moment occurred in 1957 while Keyes was teaching English to students with special needs; one of them asked him if it would be possible to be put into a regular class if he worked hard and became smart.[6][7]

Different characters in the book were also based on people in Keyes's life. The character of Algernon was inspired by a university dissection class, and the name was inspired by the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne.[6] Nemur and Strauss, the scientists who develop the intelligence-enhancing surgery in the story, were based on professors Keyes met while studying psychoanalysis in graduate school.[6]

In 1958, Keyes was approached by Galaxy Science Fiction magazine to write a story, at which point the different elements of Flowers for Algernon fell into place.[6] When the story was submitted to Galaxy, however, the editor suggested changing the ending so that Charlie retained his intelligence, married Alice Kinnian, and lived happily ever after.[6][8] Keyes refused to make the change and sold the story to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction instead.[6]

Keyes worked on the expanded novel between 1962 and 1965[9] and first tried to sell it to Doubleday, but they also wanted to change the ending. Again, Keyes refused and gave Doubleday back their advance.[8] Five different publishers rejected the story over the course of a year[8] until it was published by Harcourt in 1966.

Publication history

The short story "Flowers for Algernon" was first published as the lead story in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.[6] It was later reprinted in The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, 9th series (1960),[10][11] the Fifth Annual of the Year’s Best Science Fiction (1960),[10][12] Best Articles and Stories (1961),[10] Literary Cavalcade (1961),[10] The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929-1964 (1970),[13] and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction: A 30-Year Retrospective (1980).[11]

The expanded novel was first published in 1966 by Harcourt Brace with the Bantam paperback following in 1968.[10] By 2004, it had been translated into 27 languages, published in 30 countries and sold more than 5 million copies.[14] Since its original publication, the novel has never been out of print.[8]

Synopsis

The short story and the novel share many similar plot points but the novel expands significantly on Charlie's developing emotional state as well as his intelligence, his memories of childhood, and the relationship with his family and Miss Kinnian.

Short story

The story is told through a series of journal entries written by the story's protagonist, Charlie Gordon, a man with an IQ of 68 who works a menial job as a janitor in a factory. He is selected to undergo an experimental surgical technique to increase his intelligence. The technique had already been successfully tested on Algernon, a laboratory mouse. The surgery on Charlie is also a success and his IQ triples.

Charlie falls in love with his former teacher, Miss Kinnian, but as his intelligence increases, he surpasses her intellectually and they become unable to relate to each other. He also realizes that his co-workers at the factory whom he thought were his friends, only liked him to be around so that they could make fun of him. His new intelligence scares his co-workers at his job; they start a petition to have him fired but when Charlie finds out about the petition, he quits. As Charlie's intelligence peaks, Algernon suddenly declines — losing his increased intelligence and dying shortly afterward, to be buried in a cheese box in Charlie's backyard. Charlie discovers that his intelligence increase is also only temporary. He starts to experiment to find out the cause of the flaw in the experiment, which he calls the "Algernon-Gordon Effect". Just when he finishes his experiments, his intelligence begins to degenerate, to such an extent that he becomes equally as unintelligent as he was before the experiment. Charlie is aware of, and pained by, what is happening to him as he loses his knowledge and his ability to read and write. He tries to get his old job as a janitor back, and tries to revert to normal but he cannot stand the pity from his co-workers, landlady, and Ms. Kinnian. Charlie states he plans to "go away" from New York and move to a new place. His last wish is that someone put flowers on Algernon's grave.

Novel

The novel opens with an epigraph discouraging people from laughing at those who are perplexed or weak of vision. The epigraph is taken from Plato's The Republic, part of which reads:

Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eye are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye.

Charlie Gordon, 32 years of age, suffers from phenylketonuria and has an IQ of 68. He holds a menial job at a bakery which his uncle had secured for him so that Charlie would not have to be sent to a State institution. Wanting to improve himself, Charlie attends reading and writing classes at the Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults; his teacher is Alice Kinnian, a young, attractive woman. Two researchers at Beekman are looking for a human test subject on whom to try a new surgical technique intended to increase intelligence. They have already performed the surgery on a mouse named Algernon, dramatically improving his mental performance. Based on Alice's recommendation and his own peerless motivation to improve, Charlie is chosen over smarter pupils to undergo the procedure.

The operation is a success, and within the next three months Charlie's IQ reaches an astonishing 185. However, as his intelligence, education, and understanding of the world around him increases, his relationships with people deteriorate. His coworkers at the bakery, who used to amuse themselves at his expense, are now scared and resentful of his increased intelligence and persuade his boss to fire him. One night at a cocktail party, a drunken Charlie angrily confronts his scientific mentors about their condescending attitude toward him. Charlie also embarks on a troubled romance with Alice. Unable to become intimate with the object of his affection, Charlie later starts a purely sexual relationship with Fay Lillman, a vivacious and promiscuous artist in the neighboring apartment.

When he's not drinking at night, Charlie spends intense weeks continuing his mentors' research on his own and writing reports which include observations of Algernon who he keeps at his apartment. Charlie's research discovers a flaw in the theory behind Nemur's and Strauss's intelligence-enhancing procedure, one that could eventually cause him to revert to his original mental state. His conclusions prove true when Algernon starts behaving erratically, loses his own enhanced intelligence, and dies.

Charlie tries to mend the long-broken relationships with his parents but without success. He remembered that as a boy his mother had insisted on his institutionalization, overruling his father's wish to keep him in the household. Charlie returns after many years to his family's Brooklyn home, and finds his mother now suffers from dementia and, although she recognizes him, is mentally confused. Charlie's father, who had broken off contact with the family many years before, does not recognize him when visited at his worksite. Charlie is only able to reconnect with his now-friendly younger sister, who had hated him for his mental disability when they were growing up, and who is now caring for their mother in their now-depressed neighborhood. Charlie promises to send her money.

As Charlie regresses intellectually, Fay becomes scared by the change and stops talking to him. However, Charlie finally attains sufficient emotional maturity to have a brief but fulfilling relationship with Alice, who cohabits with him until the extent of his mental deterioration causes him to finally order her to leave. Despite regressing to his former self, he still remembers that he was once a genius. He cannot bear to have his friends and co-workers feel sorry for him. Consequently, he decides to go away to live at the State-sponsored Warren Home School where nobody knows about the operation. In a final postscript to his writings, ostensibly addressed to Alice Kinnian, he requests that she put some flowers on Algernon's grave in Charlie's former back yard.

Style

Both the novel and the short story are written in an epistolary style, collecting together Charlie's personal "progress reports" from a few days before the operation until his final regression. Initially, the reports are full of spelling errors and awkwardly constructed sentences.[15] Following the operation, however, the first signs of Charlie's increased intelligence are his improved accuracy in spelling, grammar, and punctuation, and his word choice.[16][17] Charlie's regression is conveyed by the loss of these skills.[16]

Themes

Important themes in Flowers for Algernon include the treatment of the mentally disabled,[10][18] the impact on happiness of the conflict between intellect and emotion,[17][19][20] and how events in the past can influence a person later in life.[19]

Reception

Awards

The original short story won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960.[21] The expanded novel was joint winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966, tied with Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany,[22] and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1967, losing out to The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein.[23]

In the late 1960s, the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) decided to give Nebula Awards retroactively and voted for their favourite science fiction stories of the era ending 31 December 1964 (before the Nebula Award was conceived). The short story version of Flowers for Algernon was voted third out of 132 nominees and was published in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929-1964 in 1970.[24] Keyes was elected the SFWA Author Emeritus in 2000 for making a significant contribution to science fiction and fantasy, primarily as a result of Flowers for Algernon.[25]

Censorship

Flowers for Algernon is on the American Library Association's list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999 at number 43.[2] The reasons for the challenges vary, but usually center on those parts of the novel in which Charlie struggles to understand and express his sexual desires.[3] Many of the challenges have proved unsuccessful, but the book has occasionally been removed from school libraries, including some in Pennsylvania and Texas.[3][26]

In January 1970, the school board of Cranbrook, British Columbia, as well as Calgary, Alberta, removed the Flowers for Algernon novel from the local grade-nine curriculum and the school library, after a parent complained that it was "filthy and immoral". The president of the British Columbia Teachers' Federation criticized the action. Flowers for Algernon was part of the British Columbia Department of Education list of approved books for grade nine and was recommended by the British Columbia Secondary Association of Teachers of English. A month later, the board reconsidered and returned the book to the library; they did not, however, lift its ban from the curriculum.[27][28]

Inspiration

Flowers for Algernon has been the inspiration for works that include the album A Curious Feeling by Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks[29] and Kyosuke Himuro's debut solo album Flowers for Algernon.[citation needed]

Film, television and theatrical adaptations

Flowers for Algernon has been adapted many times for different media including stage, screen and radio. These adaptations include:

Further stage and radio adaptations have been produced in Australia (1984), Czechoslovakia (1988), France (1982), Ireland (1983), Japan (1987, 1990), and Poland (1985).[30]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ World Cat, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, New York, Harcourt, Brace & World [1966], 1st Edition details
  2. ^ a b The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999 -ALA.org
  3. ^ a b c Hill 2004, pp. 7–9
  4. ^ a b "Frequently Asked Questions and Updates". Daniel Keyes. Retrieved 24 April 2008.
  5. ^ Keyes 1999, p. 16
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Hill 2004, p. 3
  7. ^ Keyes 1999, p. 97
  8. ^ a b c d "Daniel Keyes: 40 Years of Algernon". Locus Magazine. 1997. Retrieved 23 April 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  9. ^ Bujalski 2002, p. 52
  10. ^ a b c d e f Hill 2004, p. 4
  11. ^ a b "Fantasy & Science Fiction: Anthology Stories (by author)". sfsite.com. Retrieved 30 April 2008.
  12. ^ "The Fifth Annual of the Year's Best SF. Judith Merril. Simon & Schuster 1960". bestsf.net. Archived from the original on 16 March 2008. Retrieved 30 April 2008.
  13. ^ Silverberg 1970
  14. ^ Hill 2004, p. 9
  15. ^ Bujalski 2002, p. 21
  16. ^ a b Bujalski 2002, p. 15
  17. ^ a b Hill 2004, p. 2
  18. ^ Bujalski 2002, p. 13
  19. ^ a b Bujalski 2002, p. 14
  20. ^ Coules 1993, p. ix
  21. ^ 1960 Hugo Awards, TheHugoAwards.org, retrieved 23 April 2008
  22. ^ "Past Winners of SWFA Nebula Awards". Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  23. ^ "1967 Hugo Awards". TheHugoAwards.org. Retrieved 30 April 2008.
  24. ^ Silverberg 1970, p. xii
  25. ^ "Daniel Keyes to be Author Emeritus". Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Retrieved 21 April 2008.
  26. ^ Jodi Mathews (22 June 1999). "Controversial book removed from Texas middle school after one parent complains". firstamendmentcenter.org. Retrieved 16 May 2008.
  27. ^ Birdsall, Peter (1978). Mind War: Book Censorship in English Canada. CANLIT. p. 37. ISBN 0-920566-01-4.
  28. ^ Dick, Judith (1982). Not in Our Schools? School Book Censorship in Canada: A Discussion Guide. Canadian Library Assn. p. 8. ISBN 0-88802-162-3.
  29. ^ Tony Banks Biography, tonybanks-online.com
  30. ^ a b c d e "Flowers for Algernon". Daniel Keyes. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
  31. ^ The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon at IMDb
  32. ^ Charly at IMDb
  33. ^ "Flowers for Algernon by David Rogers". Dramatic Publishing. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  34. ^ "Charlie and Algernon: book and lyrics by David Rogers, music by Charles Strouse". Dramatic Publishing. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  35. ^ "Charlie and Algernon". Musical Notes. Retrieved 24 April 2008.
  36. ^ Coules 1991, p. xxiv
  37. ^ Flowers for Algernon at IMDb
  38. ^ Des fleurs pour Algernon at IMDb
  39. ^ "Agenda / Holeulone". La Terrasse. Retrieved 26 November 2010.

References

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