Reading Groups

In Short: "Flowers for Algernon," a Classic Tragedy with Mary Anna Evans

$35

1 Session

Out of stock

Thursday, 6:30 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT August 14, 2025

Online via Zoom

“Flowers for Algernon” (1959) is a generative work of speculative fiction that addresses issues still reflected in cultural conversation today. The experimental surgery performed on its protagonist, Charlie Gordon, prefigures the fictional procedure in the Apple TV+ series Severance and raises similar ethical questions, even decades later. The story, which its author Daniel Keyes called a “classic tragedy” inspired by Aristotle’s Poetics, follows Gordon, a man with intellectual disabilities who is recruited to test a medical treatment that may transform him into an individual of rare genius. However, experiments have the potential to go very wrong.

What to read in advance of the first meeting: Please read the short story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. Keyes later developed the story into a novella, which you may also read if you are curious, but the conversation will center on the short story. A copy of the story will be emailed upon registration.

What to expect from this reading group: This will be a guided conversation. Dr. Evans will provide context for this story’s significance in the history of speculative fiction and mid-twentieth-century society, but participants are encouraged to come with questions and observations of their own to share.

Reading List:

“Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes

Please note: All virtual classes are recorded. Please click here for information about our recording policy.

Led by

Mary Anna Evans

Mary Anna Evans

Mary Anna Evans holds an MFA in creative writing from Rutgers-Camden and a PhD in English literature from the University of Exeter. Her academic and creative interests center on crime, suspense, and Gothic fiction. She is the author of seventeen novels, which have received recognition including the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Will Rogers Gold Medallion, and two Oklahoma Book Awards. She is the co-editor of the Edgar, Agatha, Macavity, and HRF Keating Award-nominated Bloomsbury Guide to Agatha Christie. Her Gothic suspense novel The Dark Library will be published in June 2025.

About this series

Reading Groups

Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.

Groups+Workshops

More Groups+Workshops

Groups+Workshops