Daniel Keyes

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox writer

Daniel Keyes (August 9, 1927 – June 15, 2014) was an American writer best known as the author of the novel Flowers for Algernon. Keyes was given the Author Emeritus honor by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2000.<ref name="sfwa140617"/>

Biography

Early life and career

Keyes was born in New York City, New York.<ref name=playsofbook/> His family was Jewish.<ref>The National Jewish Monthly, B'nai B'rith, vol. 82-83 (1967), p. 172</ref><ref>Research Studies, Washington State University, vol. 40 (1972), p. 53</ref> He attended New York University briefly before joining the United States Maritime Service at 17, working as a ship's purser on oil tankers.<ref name=playsofbook /> Afterward he returned to New York and in 1950 received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Brooklyn College.<ref name=playsofbook />

A month after graduation, Keyes joined publisher Martin Goodman's magazine company, Magazine Management.<ref name=playsofbook /> He eventually became an editor of their pulp magazine Marvel Science Stories<ref name="budrys196608">Template:Cite magazine</ref> (cover-dated Nov. 1950 – May 1952) after editor Robert O. Erisman,<ref name="tran06"/> and began writing for the company's comic-book lines Atlas Comics, the 1950s precursors of Marvel Comics. After Goodman ceased publishing pulps in favor of paperback books and men's adventure magazines, Keyes became an associate editor of Atlas<ref name="sfwa140617"/> under editor-in-chief and art director Stan Lee. Circa 1952, Keyes was one of several staff writers, officially titled editors, who wrote for such horror and science fiction comics as Journey into Unknown Worlds, for which Keyes wrote two stories with artist Basil Wolverton.<ref name=gcd />

As Keyes recalled, Goodman offered him a job under Lee after Marvel Science Stories ceased publication:

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One story idea Keyes wrote but did not submit to Lee was called "Brainstorm", the paragraph-long synopsis that would evolve into Flowers for Algernon. It begins: "The first guy in the test to raise the I.Q. from a low normal 90 to genius level ... He goes through the experience and then is thrown back to what was." Keyes recalled, "something told me it should be more than a comic book script."<ref name=autobiop79-80/>

From 1955 to 1956, Keyes wrote for EC Comics, including its titles Psychoanalysis, Shock Illustrated, and Confessions Illustrated, under both his own name and the pseudonyms Kris Daniels and A.D. Locke.<ref name=gcd/>

Flowers for Algernon

Template:Main The short story and subsequent novel, Flowers for Algernon, is written as progress reports of a mentally disabled man, Charlie, who undergoes experimental surgery and briefly becomes a genius before the effects tragically wear off. The story was initially published in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and the expanded novel in 1966.<ref name="nyt140617"/> The novel has been adapted several times for other media, most prominently as the 1968 film Charly, starring Cliff Robertson (who won an Academy Award for Best Actor) and Claire Bloom. Keyes also won the Hugo Award in 1959 and the Nebula Award in 1966 for the story.<ref name="sfwa140617"/><ref name="wapo140618"/>

The inspiration for Flowers for Algernon came from Keyes's experiences as a teacher. When he was teaching at a high school, he taught both mentally gifted and challenged students. One particular experience with a boy in his mentally challenged class sparked the inspiration to begin writing Flowers for Algernon. He was wondering what would happen if it was possible for a person to gain intelligence.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Later career

Keyes taught creative writing at Wayne State University, and in 1966 he became an English and creative writing professor at Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio, where he was honored as a professor emeritus in 2000.Template:R<ref name="wint03"/><ref name="ohio02"/>

Death

Keyes died at his home in Boca Raton on June 15, 2014, due to complications from pneumonia.<ref name="nyt140617"/><ref name="wapo140618"/><ref name="loc140617"/><ref name="star140618"/> His wife Aurea Georgina Vazquez, whom he married in 1952, had died on May 14, 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They had two daughters.<ref name="nyt140617"/>

Awards

Won

Nominated

Bibliography

Novels

  • Flowers for Algernon (novel, 1966) adapted for cinema as Charly, 1968, and as Flowers for Algernon, 2000
  • The Touch (1968; re-edited and published as The Contaminated Man, 1977)<ref name="locus9706"/>
  • The Fifth Sally (1980)<ref name="locus9706"/>
  • Until Death (1998)
  • The Asylum Prophecies (2009)

Short fiction

Title Year First published Notes
"Precedent" 1952 Marvel Science Fiction, Vol. 3, No. 6
"Robot Unwanted" Other Worlds, #19
"Something Borrowed" Fantastic Story, Vol. 4, #1
"The Trouble With Elmo" 1958 Galaxy, XVI, 4
"Flowers for Algernon" 1959 Template:Cite journal Expanded as a novel, 1966.
"Crazy Maro" 1960 The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Vol. 18, 4 Paired with the essay "What Do Characters Cost?"
"The Quality of Mercy" IF, Vol. X, 5
"A Jury of its Peers" 1963 Worlds of Tomorrow, Vol. 1, No. 3
"Spellbinder" 1967 North American Review, Vol. 4 No. 4
"Mama's Girl" 1993 Daniel Keyes Collected Stories

Collections

  • Daniel Keyes Collected Stories (Kayakawa, 1993)<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Daniel Keyes Reader (Hayakawa, 1994)<ref name=":0" />

Non-fiction

  • The Minds of Billy Milligan (1981)<ref>(film adaptation unproduced Template:As of) The film adaptation of The Minds of Billy Milligan, originally announced as A Crowded Room (under James Cameron) then as The Crowded Room (under Joel Schumacher), was at some point announced for 2008, but did not materialize. Template:As of, the film remains in limbo [1] and its IMDb entry (Template:Cite web) has been deleted.</ref>
  • Unveiling Claudia (1986)
  • The Milligan Wars: A True-Story Sequel (Hayakawa, 1994)
  • Algernon, Charlie and I: A Writer's Journey (Challcrest Press, 2000)

References

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Template:Daniel Keyes Template:EccontribsTemplate:Hugo Award Best Short Story 1955–1960Template:Nebula Award Best NovelTemplate:Authority control

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