On Nov. 10, 2001, Eugene writer Ken Kesey died. Three days later the renowned author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and “Sometimes a Great Notion” was put to rest with a memorial service. That was two years ago today.
Starting this morning, speakers from across the nation will honor and discuss the author’s body of work with a three-day symposium at the University. A bronze statue of Kesey will also be unveiled in Downtown Eugene.
The symposium begins today at 7 a.m. and will last through Sunday afternoon. Experts from across the nation who have worked with Kesey or his work will give speeches and presentations in the EMU Fir Room throughout the three-day event.
The highlight of the event will be a visit by Ken Babbs, a close friend of Kesey’s who co-authored “Last Go Round.”
“They are the top names in the field,” said Bennett Huffman, who will deliver a paper exploring Kesey’s final novel, “Last Go Round” at the symposium on Saturday “The experts on him are a handful, and they’re all going to be here from Friday to Sunday. It’s extremely exciting for me to count myself among them.”
Huffman, a literature professor in the Robert D. Clark Honors College, was once a student of Kesey’s when Kesey taught a creative writing course for the master’s program at the University. In that course, Huffman, Kesey and the rest of the class wrote a novel together titled “Caverns.”
“Because after he wrote (“Sometimes a Great Notion”) he abandoned the novel and became famous as a dope fiend, he’s really discounted,” Huffman said. “There’s been a few studies in the early ’80s of his work and really not much attention since. Twenty years of him being basically ignored.”
Huffman added that he hopes the symposium will help debunk the myths that Kesey was simply a “dope fiend,” and show the world the literary merit of his work.
The symposium coincides with the University Theatre’s production of Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
The city of Eugene will also be tipping its hat to Kesey today at 1 p.m. by unveiling of a life-size statue of him, titled “The Storyteller,” on the corner of Willamette Street and Broadway. Pete Helzer sculpted the statue — which depicts the author sitting on a granite bench reading to three children — from bronze, according to a press release from project coordinator Cathy Briner. Quotes from his novels will be inscribed along the sides of the bench.
Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Lanker, a friend of Kesey’s, led the committee that raised the estimated $120,000 needed to complete the statue. So far, more than 90 percent of the needed funds have been raised.
“I’m extremely gratified by the overwhelming and far-reaching support for this memorial,” Lanker stated. “Ken’s impact from the grass-roots level to famous admirers across the country has been a testament of the rightness of this project.”
The symposium and the statue unveiling are both free and open to the public. More information about the symposium can be found at http://kesey.uoregon.edu/.
Those interested in donating to the statue project can call Briner at 689-1833.