Daniel Keyes’ writing career bloomed with ‘Flowers’
Daniel Keyes, the author of the popular 1966 novel Flowers for
Algernon, died Sunday at his home in Florida. He was 86. Keyes first published Flowers
for Algernon as a short story in The Magazine of Fantasy & Sci
ence Fiction in 1959. It is narrated by Charlie Gordon, a young man with an IQ of 68 who cannot even spell his own name. Charlie undergoes an experimental surgery that was tested on a mouse, Algernon. He becomes a genius, but then the process reverses itself.
Keyes won a Hugo Award in 1960 for the short story and a Nebula Award in 1966 for the expanded novel. The story was adapted into an Academy Awardwinning film, Charly, starring Cliff Robertson, in 1968.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1927, Keyes was editor of Marvel Sci
ence Stories, later writing comics himself and working under Stan Lee. After the success of Flowers
for Algernon, Keyes taught at Ohio University. His other books include The Fifth Sally, The Minds of Billy Milligan, Unveiling
Claudia, and Algernon, Charlie, and I: A Writer’s Journey.
“Don’t feel sorry for me,” Keyes wrote as Charlie in Alger
non. “I’m glad I had a second chance in life like you said to be smart because I learned a lot of things that I never knew were in this world, and I’m grateful I saw it even for a little bit.”