HPR4479: Who is the Algernon for Whom are the Flowers?

Hacker Public Radio

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• What is it?

Flowers for Algernon is a short science fiction story. Originally that. It was later developed as a novel.

• How did I come unto it?

I know I have heard the title years before. So, when I saw it recently at the entrance on the bookstore, in a beautiful hardcover, I gave it a view. I did not decided to buy, but it stayed with me, specially for having few pages.

I knew nothing of the plot, I only recognized the title, vaguely, as something I heard before as a praised work — and Isaac Asimov, who handed Keyes the Hugo Award for this short story, in 1960, as Best Novelette of 1959, "praised it lavishly" (source: Arthur Bruce Evans, of DePauw University. Daniel Keyes's Works ).

I then, weeks or months later, searched about.and discovered it was originally a short story. And available online. In the moment of the interest aroused (soon before producing this.HPR episode), I was more than happy with the immediate possibility of reading, instead of having to wait to buy the book or letting it stay until the next visit to the Public Library of Paraná (that is, of my state in Brazil), that might have a copy.

The first lines won me, so I kept reading, in two "seats", two moments, on the phone. It is 26 pages long.

Now, to the story.

• The plot

(Here starts a full revelation of the plot, if you want to stop listening.)

(No personal written notes here, comment made directly to audio — so, more stuttered as I tried to find the ideas and words; thanks for the patience!)

• Curiosity: The Simpsons

"As well as cinematic and stage adaptations, the book inspired a musical, starring Michael Crawford, and an episode of The Simpsons.

In the episode, called Homr, Homer Simpson discovers that a crayon lodged in his brain has been responsible for his stupidity.

On its removal, Homer becomes clever, only to have the crayon re-inserted after becoming distanced from family and friends.

Aired in 2001, the episode won an Emmy for outstanding animated programme." (Source: BBC. Flowers for Algernon writer Daniel Keyes dies at 86 . June 18, 2014.)

• Ending... the author

The author, Daniel Keyes, died on June 15, 2014, aged 86, from complications of pneumonia, at his home in Boca Raton (Florida, USA). His only wife, Aurea Georgina Vazquez, whom he married in 1952, had died one year, one month and one day before, on May 14, 2013.They had two daughters.

• Links:

Wikipedia page for the story Flowers for Algernon: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon

Only that.

Thanks for the opportunity to share!

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