Charles bukowski

Heinrich Karl Bukowski (Andernach, Germany, August 16, 1920-San Pedro, Los Angeles, March 9, 1994), known as (Henry) Charles Bukowski, was a German-born American short story writer, novelist and poet, representative of dirty realism and considered a "cursed poet", due to his excessive alcoholism, poverty and bohemia.

Bukowski's literary work is strongly influenced by the atmosphere of Los Angeles, where he spent most of his life. Today he is considered one of the most influential writers in American literature and one of the symbols of "dirty realism" and independent literature.

Bukowski wrote books of various genres, such as: diaries, stories, novels, poetry, essays and even wrote Barfly, a film script based on his alter ego Henry Chinaski, directed by French filmmaker Barbet Schroeder, a film in where he made a cameo in a bar. This experience was compiled in a book of stories, Hollywood (1989).

Charles Bukowski's work received as many negative and positive criticisms. He was accused of practicing a soez style as mere literary exhibitionism and of reiterating his obsessions in an effective way. Other critics, on the other hand, enhanced their authenticity and status as a cursed writer.

Biographies and lives

Biographical information

Childhood and youth

Heinrich Karl Bukowski was born on August 16, 1920 in the German town of Andernach. His mother, Katharina Fett, was a native of Germany and his father was an American of Polish descent. His parents got married a month before Charles was born.

Due to the German economic crisis after World War I, Bukowski and his family moved to Baltimore in 1923. Later, to make his name sound more American, his parents began calling him "Henry." They later moved to a South Central suburb of Los Angeles.

After graduating from Los Angeles High School, he studied art, journalism and literature at the University of Los Angeles for two years.

His difficult relationship with his father was one of the reasons why he left the University. This relationship was portrayed in some of his stories and novels.

First publications

At age 24, her short story "Aftermath of a Lengthy Rejection Slip" was published in Story Magazine. Two years later they published another story, "20 Tanks From Kasseldown" (1946), this time in another medium. It was when Bukowski became disillusioned with the publishing process that he stopped writing for a decade. During this time he was living in Los Angeles, although he also spent time wandering the United States, taking part in temporary jobs and staying in cheap pensions.

In the early 1950s, Bukowski began working as a mail carrier in Los Angeles with the United States Postal Service, where he stayed for three years. In 1955 he was hospitalized with a very severe bleeding ulcer. Upon leaving the hospital he began to write poetry. In 1957 he married Texan writer and poet Barbara Frye, but they divorced in 1959. Frye often doubted Bukowski's ability as a poet. After they divorced, Bukowski continued to drink and write poetry.

1960s

Before the 1960s began, he returned to the Los Angeles Post Office, where he continued to work for a decade. In 1964, he had a daughter, Marina Louise Bukowski, born from his relationship with his girlfriend Frances Smith. Bukowski later lived in Tucson for a short time, where he befriended Jon Webb and Gypsy Lou, who encouraged him to publish and make a living from their writing.

Thanks to Webb he began to publish some poems in the literary magazine The Outsider. Loujon Press published It Catches my Heart In Its Hand in 1963, and A Crucifix in a Deathhand two years later. It was then that Bukowski met Jon Webb's friend Franz Douskey, whom he used to visit regularly at his small house on Elm Street that also served as a publishing center. Webb, Bukowski, and Douskey spent time together in New Orleans.

Beginning in 1967, Bukowski was writing the column Notes of A Dirty Old Man for the Los Angeles independent newspaper Open City. When it closed in 1969, the column moved to the Los Angeles Free Press. That year he published a compilation of the best columns written for the newspaper with that same title.

The years with Black Sparrow Press

In 1969, after being promised a lifetime salary of $100 a month by publisher John Martin of Black Sparrow Press, Bukowski quit working at the post office to devote himself full time to writing. He was then 49 years old. As he himself explained in a letter at the time, “I have two choices, stay in the post office and go crazy… or stay outside and play writer and starve. I have decided to starve to death.” It was less than a month after leaving the job at the Post Office, when he finished his first novel, Post Office (titled Postman in Spanish).

Due to John Martin's trust in him as a relatively unknown writer and financial help, Bukowski published most of his literary work with Black Sparrow Press. In 1976 he met Linda Lee Beighle, the owner of a health food restaurant. Two years later, the couple moved from East Hollywood, where Bukowski had lived most of his life, to San Pedro, the southernmost borough of Los Angeles. Bukowski and Linda Lee were married by Manly Palmer Hall in 1985. Bukowski discusses her in the novels Women and Hollywood , most of which are autobiographical of her, through Sarah's character.

Bukowski has been translated into more than a dozen languages, including Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese. He is seen as an icon of American decadence and the characteristic nihilistic representation after World War II. His lack of ambition and commitment to himself and the rest of the world make him one of the influences of many contemporary authors, including Alberto Fuguet, Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, Karmelo C. Iribarren, Roger Wolfe, Raúl Núñez and the English rock group Dogs D'amour.^{[citation required]}

Death

Bukowski died of leukemia on March 9, 1994 in San Pedro, California, at the age of 73, shortly after finishing his latest novel, Pulp. The remains of him were driven by Buddhist monks. On his tombstone it reads: "Don't try" ("Don't try").

Works

Throughout his life, Bukowski published six novels, nine collections of short stories, and twenty collections of poems.

After his death, unpublished material has continued to be published, such as essays and unpublished correspondence.

Novels

• Portfolio (Post Office1971)
• Factotum (Factotum1975)
• Women (Women1978)
• The path of the loser (Ham on Rye1982)
• Hollywood (1989)
• Pulp (1994)

Stories

• Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live with Beasts (Mimeo Press, 1965)

• All the Assholes in the World and Mine (Open Skull Press, 1966)

• Erections, exhibitions and general stories of ordinary madness (Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness, 1972). In Spanish it was published in two volumes:
  • Ejects, ejaculations, exhibitions. Anagram, 1972.
  • The fucking machine. Anagram, 1974.

• Written by an indecent old man (Notes of a Dirty Old ManCity Lights Books, 1973. Anagram, 1978.
• She's looking for a woman.1973 (South of No Northed. Black Sparrow.
• Music of pipes (Hot Water Musiced. Black Sparrow. Anagram, 1983.
• Son of SatanAnagrama, 1993 (Septuagenarian Stew, ed. Black Sparrow, 1990)
• Prying (with Jack Micheline and Catfish McDaris) (1997)
• Fragments of a wine-stained notebook. Unpublished stories and essays 1944-1990, Anagram 2009 (Portions of a Wine-Stained Notebook: Short Stories and Essays 1944-1990ed. Black Sparrow, 2008).
• Anger of the hero, 2010 (Absence of the HeroCity Lights Books.
• More Notes of a Dirty Old Man (2011).
• The bells don't bend by anyone., 2015 (The Bell Tolls For No OneCity Lights Books.

Essays, Diaries and Correspondence

• Shakespeare never did. (Shakespeare Never Did ThisCity Lights Books, 1979.
• The Bukowski/Purdy LettersPaget Press, 1983
• Screams from the Balcony: Selected Letters (volume 1)Black Sparrow, 1993.
• Fighting against it. Anagrama, 2004. (Run with the Haunted, 1993).
• Living on Luck: Selected Letters 1960s-1970s (volume 2)Black Sparrow, 1995.
• The captain went out to eat and the sailors took the boat., Anagram, 2000 (The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the ShipBlack Sparrow, 1998)
• Reach for the Sun: Selected Letters 1978-1994 (volume 3)Black Sparrow, 1999.
• Night of spitting beer and curses. The correspondence of Charles Bukowski and Sheri Martinelli 1960-1967, The Poetry Lord Hidalgo, 2007 (Beerspit Night and Cursing: The Correspondence of Charles Bukowski " Sheri Martinelli 1960-1967Black Sparrow, 2001).
• The writing disease. Anagram, 2020. (On Writing, 2015).
• The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way: On Writers and WritingCity Lights, 2018.

Poetry

• Flower, Fist, and Bestial Wail (1960).
• It Catches My Heart in Its Hands (1963).
• Crucifix in a DeathhandLoujon Press (1965).
• At Terror Street and Agony Way (1968).
• Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 story Window (1968).
• A Bukowski SamplerQuixote Press (1969).
• The days run like wild horses through the mountains Visor, 2014. (The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills1969).
• Fire Station (1970).
• Russ, wish me luck. Visor, 2014. (Mockingbird Wish Me Luck, 1972).
• Burn in the water, drown in the fire. Poems chosen 1955-1973. Visor, 2015. (Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame: Selected Poems 1955-19731974).
• Maybe Tomorrow (1977).
• Love is a dog of hell. Poems 1974-1977. Visor, 2016. (Love is a Dog from Hell: Poems 1974-19771977).
• Play the drunk piano as a percussion instrument until your fingers start bleeding a little. Visor, 2014. (Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit1979).
• Dangling in the Tournefortia (1981).
• Unceasing war. Poems 1981-1984. Visor, 2008. (War All the Time: Poems 1981-19841984).
• You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Senses (1986).
• The pension. First chosen poems 1946-1966. Visor, 2002. (The Roominghouse Madrigals: Early Selected Poems 1946-19661988).
• Son of Satan Septuagenarian Stew: Stories & Poems1990).
• People Poems (1991).
• Poems of the last night of the Earth. Visor, 2019. (The Last Night of the Earth Poems (1992).
• Betting on the Muse: Poems " Stories (1996).
• Bone Palace Ballet: New Poems (1997).
• Hell is a lonely place. Txalaparta, 1997.
• The most important thing is to know how to get through the fire. New poems. Visor, 2015, translation of Eduardo Iriarte who was among the finalists of the National Translation Prize in 2004. (What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire: New Poems1999).
• Open All Night: New Poems (2000).
• The night is gone. Visor, 2014. (The Night Torn Mad with Footsteps: New Poems2001).
• Dancing with death. Water. (Storm for the Living and the Dead. Uncollected and Unpublished Poems2004).
• He scrutinized madness in search of the word, the verse, the route. New poems. Visor, 2016. (Sifting Through the Madnessfor the Word, the Line, the Way: New Poems2002).
• The Flash of the Lightning Behind the Mountain, 2004.
• Slouching Toward Nirvana (2005).
• Go on! New poems. Visor, 2015. (Come on in!: New Poems2006)
• People look like flowers at last. New poems. Visor, 2009. (The People Look Like Flowers at Last: New Poems2007).
• The pleasures of the condemned man. Poems 1951-1993.Visor, 2011. Anthology, selection of John Martin (The Pleasures of the Damned. Poems 1951-19932007).
• Continuous suffering. Visor, 2016. (The Continual Condition2009).
• Cats. Visor, 2016. Anthology that includes poems, fragments of stories, novels, journals and letters selected by Abel Debritto (On Cats, 2015).
• Love. Visor, 2017. Anthology, selection of Abel Debritto. On Love (2016).
• Storms for the living and the dead. Unpublished Poems. Visor, 2018. (Storm for the Living and the Dead, 2017).

Bukowski and the cinema

Screen appearances and documentaries

• Bukowski at Bellevue (1970), reading poems.
• Supervan (Lamar Card, 1976), cameo.
• There's Gonna Be a God Damn Riot in Here (Dennis Del Torre, 1979, DVD release in 2008), poem reading.
• The Last Straw (Jon Monday, 1980, released on DVD in 2008), reading poems.
• Bukowski: Born Into This (John Dullaghan, 2002), documentary
• On Though Mother (Dennis Del Torre and Jon Monday, 2010), DVD edition of the readings There's Gonna Be a God Damn Riot in Here (Dennis Del Torre, 1979) and The Last Straw (Jon Monday, 1980).

Movie adaptations

• Storie di ordinary follia (Ordinary madnessMarco Ferreri, 1981), a film inspired by Bukowski's stories.
• Barfly (The drunk, Barbet Schroeder, 1987), film with script by Bukowski himself who later inspired the novel Hollywoodabout their experiences during the shooting.
• Love is a Dog from Hell (Crazy Love) (Dominique Deruddere, 1987), film inspired by Bukowski stories.
• Lune froide (Cold Moon) (Patrick Bouchitey, 1991), adaptation of accounts The Copulating Mermaid of Venice and Trouble with the Battery.
• Factotum (Bent Hamer, 2005), film adaptation of the homonymous novel.
• The Suicide (Jeff Markey, 2006), short film adaptation of a Bukowski story.

Interviews

• What I like most is scratching my sobacco. Fernanda Pivano interviews Bukowski, Anagrama, 1983 (That's what I care about.SugarCo Edizioni, 1982)
• Sol, here I am. Interviews and meetings 1963-1993 Weed leaves, 2021. (Sunlight here I am: Interviews and encounters, 1963–1993Sun Dog Press, 2003).

Bukowski in popular culture

• A Bibliography of Charles Bukowskiby Sanford Dorbin, Black Sparrow, 1969
• Hank (The Life of Charles Bukowski)by Neeli Cherkovski, Anagram, 1993Hank. The Life of Charles BukowskiRandom House, 1991)
• Against the American Dream: Essays on Charles Bukowski by Russell Harrison, Black Sparrow, 1998
• Charles Bukowski. A Life in Imagesby Howard Sounes, Salamandra, 2001 (Charles Bukowski: Locked in the Arms of a Crazy LifeGrove, 1998)
• A Descriptive Bibliography of the Primary Publications of Charles Bukowskiby Aaron Krumhansi, Black Sparrow, 1999
• Charles Bukowskiby Barry Miles, Circe, 2006Charles BukowskiVirgin Books, 2005)
• Hangover / Hank Over. A tribute to Charles Bukowski, selection and prologue of Patxi Irurzun and Vicente Muñoz Álvarez, 37 accounts of many other authors, Caballo de Troya / Random House Mondadori, 2008.
• Charles Bukowski. Portrait of a loneby Juan Corridor, Renaissance, 2014
• The song Lunita de Tucumán by Tan Biónica names him in a verse. The same is inspired by the crime committed by "The Crazy" Armin in the city of San Miguel de Tucumán.
• Several stories taken to the comic by the cartoonist Matthias Schultheiss.
• The song of Fito Páez Ordinary madness Polaroid is inspired by the story The most beautiful girl in the city (including in Ejaculations, exhibitions).
• The Flema song "The Last Glass of Wine" is based on the poem "Libertad".
• "Bukowski", American band song Modest Mouse.
• "Bukowski", Spanish rapper song Ayax (from Ayax and Prok).
• "Bukowski", song by the English group Moose Blood.
• "Pick up my book I read Bukowski", lyrics of the song "Mellowship Slinky in B Major" by Red Hot Chili Peppers.
• The British rock band Arctic Monkeys named it in his song "She Looks Like Fun"
• "The Hour of Judgment" Song of the Canserbero rapper, where he mentions the "Last Bloody Poet".