Sometimes a Great Notion (novel)

Sometimes a Great Notion is a 1964 novel by Ken Kesey.

Plot summary

The plot centers on the Stamper family, a hard-headed logging clan in the fictional town of Wakonda, Oregon. When the rest of the town goes on strike, the Stampers continue logging, creating strife with the local union and eventually within the family. It is widely considered among the masterpieces of Western American literature, in 1997 a panel of Northwest writers voted it number one in a list of "12 Essential Northwest Works".[1] One book critic has described it as "what may well be the quintessential Northwest novel".^[1] Kesey's second novel, following the phenomenal success of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, it is both more rooted in realism than his previous work and at the same time more experimental. It has been compared to William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! in both form and content. The novel uses the somewhat disorientating technique of having multiple characters speaking sequentially in the first voice, with no announcement that the first-person speaker has changed. A first reading can be confusing, but subsequent readings reveal that Kesey always provides a clue, quickly referring to the previously-presumed first character in the third person. This technique allows Kesey to weave an intricate braid of characters whose motives are understood in depth by the reader, but yet do not communicate well with each other. Kesey took the title from the song “Goodnight, Irene”, popularized by Lead Belly.

Sometimes I live in the country
Sometimes I live in the town
Sometimes I get a great notion
To jump into the river an’ drown

Film adaptation

The novel was adapted into a film of the same name. In Britain it is more commonly known by its original release title: Never Give A Inch,^[2] which refers to the motto painted in yellow machine-paint by the father, over a pious religious scene that was sent to his infant son by estranged relatives. The film starred Paul Newman and Henry Fonda and was nominated for two Oscars.

References