Who decides what's sane&mdash\;and who ben efits from that decision? Ken Kesey's \;One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Han Kang's \;The Vegetarian. Literature's mental asylums are rarely just hospitals&mdash\;they're stages where our culture' s deepest conflicts play out: Who has power over whom? What separates sani ty from madness? And what happens when the price of freedom is being label ed insane?
\nThe mental asylum has long served as a powerful metapho r for our deepest fears&mdash\;helplessness\, corrupt authority\, and losi ng our grip on reality itself. In this presentation\, we&rsquo\;ll explore how writers transform the institution into a mirror\, using mental asylum s to ask dangerous questions about conformity and control. From the electr oshock therapy of \;The Bell Jar \;to the colonial gaslig hting of \;Wide Sargasso Sea\, from the wartime bureaucracy o f \;Catch-22 \;to the contemporary memoir \;Girl< /em>\, Interrupted\, these literary asylums still speak to our mo ment\, when questions about institutional power\, diagnostic labels\, and the right to define our own reality feel more urgent than ever.
\nJo el Clements \;is a local writer and teacher. He has taught literature and writing for Bend LaPine schools\, COCC\, and OSU-Cascades\, and presen ted multiple Deschutes Library and Novel Idea seminars over the years. As a writer/performer\, he has contributed to multiple regional and national publications\, and his most recent short film appeared in festivals in the US and Europe. &ldquo\;The Times&rdquo\; once identified him as a humor w riter of note. He worked professionally as a storyteller and comedian for several years. He lives in Bend with his wife\, Michele\, and kids\, Zoe\, Oscar\, and Phoebe.
\n2026 A Novel Idea Book Selection:
Supersonic \;charts the rise of a boomtown city in
the American West where ambition outpaces memory. In the present day\, PT
A president Sami Hasegawa-Stalworth is determined to rename her daughter&r
squo\;s elementary school after her late grandmother&mdash\;a beloved musi
c teacher and Japanese internment survivor. What begins as a symbolic fami
ly gesture spirals into a kaleidoscopic\, multi-generational story of stru
ggle&mdash\;for and against change\, and over who gets to define the futur
e. \;
\;
Through interwoven lives&mdash\;an opioid-addi
cted 19th-century conman\, a disgraced Navy seaman building a jet that wil
l fly faster than sound\, a stay-at-home dad turned weed entrepreneur\, an
d a family haunted by the ghosts of progress&mdash\;Supersonic&nb
sp\;reveals how each era tries to remake the same ground beneath its feet.
At once intimate and panoramic\, the story channels the restless energy t
hat propels the West. \;
\;
About the Author:&n
bsp\;
Thomas \;Kohnstamm \;was born and raised in Se
attle. He still lives in the same house he grew up in&mdash\;now with his
wife and two children. \;A freelance writer for over twenty years\,&nb
sp\;he&rsquo\;s \;been a Spanish &\; Portuguese translator\, travel
writer\, video &\; animation producer and has covered subjects ranging
from rainforest conservation to quantum computing to backcountry skiing.&
nbsp\;Supersonic \;is his third book. \;
Learn mo re about \;A Novel Idea
\n< p>Questions? Contact jennym@d eschuteslibrary.org \; \; \; \;\nhttps://dpl.lib net.info/event/15856689 URL;VALUE=URI:https://dpl.libnet.info/event/15856689 ATTACH:https://static.libnet.info/images/events/dpl/Mental_Asylums_in_Fict ion.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR