Ken Kesey on writing, technology and the Merry Prankster’s bus!
Mar
16
2009
Ken Kesey, author of the classic 60s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (aff link), knew a little something about writing and creativity. So when I came across the video clip below, filmed in 2001 shortly before Kesey’s death, I found his ideas about the merging of writing and technology fascinating.
While some of the "technology" featured in this clip is now antiquated (video tapes), I think Kesey makes some excellent points and would no doubt be a huge fan of ebooks if he were still alive today. As an added bonus, he gives a tour of the original bus that the Merry Pranksters took their infamous cross-country trip in 1964.
The video is just shy of 10 minutes, but well worth watching in its entirety.
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Read More: Writing
Great piece, thanks for posting it. Something to reference when people complain that the internet is changing how people write and read – it’s not necessarily a bad thing, just evolution.
It’s too bad they let a piece of history like that rust away in the outdoors. That bus should have been in a museum. That’s one of the unfortunate things about someone like Kesey getting that eccentric, he actually believes that ‘bus is a spirit’ and it doesn’t matter if it rusts to nothing. It sure is a good thing the people that look over the Constitution and Bill of Rights originals don’t have the same views.