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Kesey, Ken (1935-2001) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, First Edition.
New York: The Viking Press, 1962.
First edition, first printing, octavo, with no subsequent printing dates on the copyright, "that fool Red Cross woman" on page 9, and "Red Cross woman named Gwen-doe-lin, with the blond hair the patients are always arguing about," on page 68; bound in publisher's green cloth, spine lettered in yellow; with the first issue dust jacket featuring Jack Kerouac's short blurb on the inside front flap, unclipped (minor creasing and edgewear to jacket, one or two small repaired tears, jacket verso somewhat toned; minor area of residue at front free fly leaf); 8 x 5 1/4 in.
A hallmark of 60's counterculture literature, Kesey's first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, was frequently censored in the 1970s and 80s because of racist language and his glorification of defiance in the face of institutional authority. Kesey was inspired to write the novel after working the night shift as an orderly at a mental health facility in California. At the same time, he was also involved with Project MKUltra. These experiences led him to address and question the pre-Civil Rights-era approach to psychology and rehabilitation in America in his novel. The novel was also adapted into a film by Miloš Forman in 1975 and became the second movie to win all five major Academy Awards.
