book cover of Algernon, Charlie and I
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Algernon, Charlie and I

(2000)
A Writer's Journey
A non fiction book by

 
 
School Library Journal
YA-Part autobiography, part writers' manual, this book is a fascinating and highly engaging look at the creative process and development of an author. Beginning with the childhood that provided him with the impetus and material to write, Keyes traces the public and private evolution of his Hugo Award-winning Flowers for Algernon as a novelette, novel, stage adaptation, cinema production, and a made-for-TV movie. He shows how successive drafts enrich a story, and how disappointments like the transfer of the showstopping musical number Tomorrow changed the fortunes of both the stage version of Algernon and the eventual recipient of the song, Annie. This book succeeds as an insightful first-person account of the difficulties and joys of the writing life, and as one of the most useful writers' manuals to be published in a long time.-Sheryl Fowler, Chantilly Regional Library, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Gary K. Wolfe - Locus
[Flowers for Algernon] has often been cited as having one of the most perfect and perfectly-controlled narrative arcs in the entire history of the short story, and its career as one of the genre's great multimedia properties is equally impressive; it has been adapted in more ways and over a longer period of time than any other modern SF work...Algernon, Charlie and I makes it clear that Keyes, like vast numbers of his readers, has haunted by Charlie for so long that he needs some kind of closure, if not exorcism. This book may not accomplish that, but it offers a fascinating glimpse into how a lifetime of experiences was distilled into a single classic novella, and along the way offers a substantial number of insights into the craft and art of fiction.

Internet Bookwatch
In Algernon, Charlie And I: A Writer's Journey, Daniel Keys reveals the life experiences behind his creation of thecharacter Charlie Gordon, a young man whose quest for intelligence and knowledge parallels that of the mouse, Algernon,in his acclaimed novelette "Flowers for Algernon" (which has been optioned and is in production for a CBS made-for-tvmovie. Both the novelette version, and the novel that followed, have been widely translated and remain part of many schooland college literature course curriculums. Algernon, Charlie And I includes the author's original short novelette version andis a "must" for all Keys fans.



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