''Sometimes a Great Notion'' is the second novel by American author
Ken Kesey
Ken Elton Kesey (; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and Counterculture of the 1960s, countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies o ...
, published in 1964. While '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (1962) is more famous, many critics consider ''Sometimes a Great Notion'' Kesey's
magnum opus
A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship.
Historically, ...
. The story involves an
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
family of gyppo loggers who cut trees for a local mill in opposition to unionized workers who are on strike.
Kesey took the title from the song " Goodnight, Irene", popularized by
Lead Belly
Huddie William Ledbetter ( ; January 1888 or 1889 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk music, folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the ...
.
Sometimes I lives in the country
Sometimes I lives in the town
Sometimes I haves a great notion
To jump into the river an' drown
Plot
The story centers on the Stamper family, a hard-headed
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucks
Tom Wolfe
Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...
noted that initial reviews of the book varied widely. Commenting in the '' Saturday Review'' in a 1964 piece entitled "
Beatnik
Beatniks were members of a social movement in the mid-20th century, who subscribed to an anti- materialistic lifestyle. They rejected the conformity and consumerism of mainstream American culture and expressed themselves through various forms ...
in Lumberjack Country", critic Granville Hicks wrote: "In his first novel, ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'', Ken Kesey demonstrated that he was a forceful, inventive and ambitious writer. All of these qualities are exhibited, in even higher degree, in ''Sometimes a Great Notion''. Here he has told a fascinating story in a fascinating way." Also in the ''Saturday Review'', John Barkham wrote: "A novelist of unusual talent and imagination ... a huge, turbulent tale ..." Maurice Dolbier, in the ''
New York Herald Tribune
The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the '' New York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and compet ...
'', wrote: "In the fiction wilderness, this is a towering redwood." In his introduction to the Penguin edition, Charles Bowden called it "one of the few essential books written by an American in the last half century."
In 1997, a panel of writers from the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...
voted it number one in a list of "12 Essential Northwest Works". One critic described it as "...what may well be the quintessential Northwest novel". Wolfe and others compared it to
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...
's '' Absalom, Absalom!'' in both form and content. Wolfe also noted, however, that ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' characterized it as "a big novel—but that it was overwritten and had failed."
Adaptations
In 1970, the novel was adapted into a film, which was retitled , for television. The film was directed by
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and activist. He was the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Paul Newman, numerous awards ...
, who starred alongside
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor whose career spanned five decades on Broadway theatre, Broadway and in Hollywood. On screen and stage, he often portrayed characters who embodied an everyman image.
Bo ...
. It was nominated for two
Oscars
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence i ...
.
A stage adaptation, written and directed by
Aaron Posner
Aaron Posner is an American playwright and theatre director. He was co-founder of the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia and was the artistic director of Two River Theater from 2006 to 2010. He has directed over 100 productions at major regio ...
The Oregonian
''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...