Presenter(s): Alison Hamilton − English
Faculty Mentor(s): Corbett Upton
Oral Session 3O
Research Area: Humanities, Literature
In this project I will be analyzing Ken Kesey’s novel Sometimes A Great Notion, and discussing how his stylistic choices and singular form bring the world of the novel to life, and highlight the significance of the river within the novel. This story finds its own flow and cohesion using first person, second person, and third person narration, while also switching between many different characters. Almost every character in the novel has their consciousness explored as we see the story from their perspective. We also encounter an omniscient third person noncharacter narrator who begins each section of the novel and occasionally interjects with their own thoughts. Throughout the novel Kesey changes his syntax and appearance of sentences and paragraphs to show the changes in character, perspective, and time. A glance at any page of the novel shows an abundance of differing appearances of the text: from italics, to parentheses, to punctuation, to font size. Using these tools Kesey gives the readers visual cues to who is speaking, what time it is, and what perspective is being presented. I Sometimes A Great Notion n, Kesey has managed to create a portrait of a town and its people. He shows how a river can connect people far and wide and through time, and he creates that river through his unique structure and narrative choices. I will show how the flow of the novel itself emulates the flow of the river within the story.