Although he dreamed of being a writer, Keyes’ parents wanted him to be a doctor.

The scholarships, which were awarded for the first time this year, include The Daniel Keyes Family Endowed Scholarship, and the Daniel Keyes Family Graduate Scholarships in Creative Writing.įlowers for Algernon has a long history, stretching back to Keyes’ days as a premed major at New York University. In honor of that important time, Daniel Keyes spent here, his daughters Hillary and Leslie Keyes have generously set up several scholarships for Wayne State English students. Keyes’ beloved novel has been translated into 27 different languages, taught to a countless number of students in English classes, and was actually written during Keyes’ time at our very own Wayne State. The novel, originally a novella, is the tragic tale of a science experiment that turns a mentally challenged man named Charlie Gordon into a genius. This purpose of paper is to discuss the concept of healing and well-being and question whether being well is an ideological or medical concept in terms of madness and civilization from the perspective of Foulcault who sees madness in a certain cultural space in society which the position and definition of “healthy” individuals depend on.Daniel Keyes was an American writer and professor best-known for Flowers for Algernon, a science fiction novel that’s sold more than five million copies since its publication in 1966. Yet, as Charlie turns unexpectedly very intelligent and cultured, reaching the ability to speak several languages including Latin, he finds out that the experiment he has been through brings a temporary state of mental well-being to the subject who would quickly return to one’s initial mental state.

The experiment gradually proves to be successful as Charlie’s mental health improves. Daniel Keyes recounts the saddening story of Charlie Gordon, a mentally retarded thirty-two-year-old man, who is chosen by scientists for an experiment that would supposedly improve one’s mental capacity in a short time span. After the story successfully elicited critical acclaim and brought literary awards to its author, Keyes expanded the story into a novel that was first published in 1966. Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon was first published as a short story in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1959.

1966 novel by daniel keyes