Don't Cut the Mother Loose too Soon: Reevaluating the Art of Ken Kesey's 'Jail Journal'
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Date
2014-06
Authors
Swartzlender, Kyle
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
This thesis addresses the topic of Ken Kesey's Jail Journal, a fully illustrated
narrative poster series that was constructed during the author's 1967 incarceration in the
San Mateo County Correctional System. Not published until nearly forty years after its
completion, Kesey' s Jail Journal remains a relatively unknown work to this day. Part of
the reason for this work's obscurity can be attributed to its inaccurate categorization as a
piece of literature. Through close examination of the Jail Journal's many different parts
and genres, this paper demonstrates how the work would be better suited classified as
an example of an artist's book; a composition which consists of multiple stylistic and
compositional elements, and which is not bound by a single restrictive categorization.
Following a model of overlapping classification for the artist's book genre first
outlined by Johanna Drucker in her book The Century of Artists' Books, Kesey's Jail
Journal is broken down and evaluated in this thesis based on its five most prominent
functions as an artist's book. Discussions of the journal's roles as document, written and
illustrated narrative, agent of social change, and as a unique and auratic object
formulate the different sections of this paper, and provide support for the work's
classification as an artist's book.
Description
85 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Art History and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, Spring 2014.
Keywords
Artists Books, Ken Kesey, Review, Comic books, Collage, Prison, Illustrations