Flowers for Algernon Background

Genre: Science Fiction, Epistolary Novel

Flowers for Algernon is widely known as one of the finest works of science fiction ever written. It is considered science fiction because of the speculative nature of its storyline but has been written as an epistolary novel—in the form of diary entries by its protagonist Charlie.

The book has never gone out of print since its publication in 1966 and has been adapted into numerous plays and films around the world. It is also taught in several colleges and schools for its remarkable style and genre.

Unlike typical science fiction, Flowers for Algernon does not dwell on alternative universes or aliens—it is a very real story of a mentally disabled man who undergoes surgery to increase his intelligence and then, over time, regresses. Only the speculative nature of a brain surgery to increase human intelligence makes the book a novel of science fiction.