 Keen earned a bachelor's degree in history and then studied at the University of Sarajevo in Yugoslavia.Having been influenced by Josef Škvorecký, Danilo Kiš, Jaroslav Hašek and especially the writings of Franz Kafka; Keen relocated to America, where he earned a master's degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, studying under Ken Jowitt.After Berkeley, Keen taught modern history and politics at Tufts University, Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.