Charlie's Diary

Originally published as a short story in 1959 and expanded into a novel in 1966, Flowers for Algernon is told through the diary entries of Charlie Gordon, a man with an IQ of 68 who works as a janitor and desperately wants to be smart. An experimental procedure promises to triple his intelligence.

The early diary entries contain spelling errors, run-on sentences, and childlike misunderstandings that gradually disappear as Charlie's mind expands. The technique is simple but devastating — the form of the writing is the content.