Flowers for Algernon - Authors Sticking to their Guns/ideas

kennyc · 07-22-2011, 12:54 PM

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is a famous (science fiction) short story.

from wikipedia (contains spoilers in case you haven't read the story):

Spoiler:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon

crich70 · 07-22-2011, 02:03 PM

Interesting. Cliff Robertson played Charlie Gordon in the movie version "Charly" in 1968. I remember reading the book in school I think. I can't recall if it was the short story I read first or the book though. We read so many books and such in school when I was a kid many moons ago. lol.

kennyc · 07-22-2011, 02:11 PM

I'm pretty sure I read the story first and was blown away by it. Seems tied to Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" in my mind so I must have read them both about the same time, or in the same class or something...

cromag · 07-22-2011, 08:08 PM

I read the story in F&SF -- I've always thought the shorter work was more powerful. I didn't know about the Galaxy side story. Back in the 60s I liked them both, but I was always more of a Galaxy fan than an F&SF fan.

I think the story would have been pretty much pointless if he'd taken Galaxy's (Mr. Gold? Too lazy to check...) suggestion.

The movie was okay, but the story/novel is amazing.

07-22-2011, 12:54 PM	#1
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,872 Karma: 118716293 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	Flowers for Algernon - Authors Sticking to their Guns/ideas Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is a famous (science fiction) short story. from wikipedia (contains spoilers in case you haven't read the story): Spoiler: In 1958, Keyes was approached by Galaxy Science Fiction magazine to write a story, at which point the different elements of Flowers for Algernon fell into place.[9] On submitting the finished story to Galaxy, however, the editor suggested changing the ending so that Charlie retained his intelligence, married Alice, and lived happily ever after.[9][11] Keyes refused to make the change and sold the story to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction instead.[9] Keyes worked on the expanded novel between 1962 and 1965[12] and first tried to sell it to Doubleday, but they also wanted to change the ending. Again, Keyes refused and gave Doubleday back their advance.[11] Five different publishers rejected the story over the course of a year[11] until it was taken on and published by Harcourt in 1966. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_for_Algernon

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07-22-2011, 02:03 PM	#2
crich70 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,305 Karma: 43993832 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Monroe Wisconsin Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)	Interesting. Cliff Robertson played Charlie Gordon in the movie version "Charly" in 1968. I remember reading the book in school I think. I can't recall if it was the short story I read first or the book though. We read so many books and such in school when I was a kid many moons ago. lol.

07-22-2011, 02:11 PM	#3
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,872 Karma: 118716293 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	I'm pretty sure I read the story first and was blown away by it. Seems tied to Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" in my mind so I must have read them both about the same time, or in the same class or something...

07-22-2011, 08:08 PM	#4
cromag Surfin the alpha waves ~~ Posts: 24,306 Karma: 459220161 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: New Jersey Device: Jetbook Lite & Mini, Nook STR, Kobo, Hanvon N516, Kindle 2, Androids	I read the story in F&SF -- I've always thought the shorter work was more powerful. I didn't know about the Galaxy side story. Back in the 60s I liked them both, but I was always more of a Galaxy fan than an F&SF fan. I think the story would have been pretty much pointless if he'd taken Galaxy's (Mr. Gold? Too lazy to check...) suggestion. The movie was okay, but the story/novel is amazing.

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