CHARLES BUKOWSKI: Morrow Controversy in the Flesh
Charles Bukowski was a prolific German-American writer and poet, his writing portrayed traditionally male themes that gave one insight into the life of an average American underdog. Called at times the “godfather of lowlife literature” or “gutter poet,” Bukowski’s work frequently illustrated autobiographical accounts of the many vices he lived with; drinking, womanizing, holding a job, and general misanthropic behaviour.
He wrote with absolutely no filter, and with a lack of literary devices prevalent in other famous poetry of his time; making the reader feel as though they were a bar buddy having Bukowski’s depravities detailed back to them. Adam Kirsh of The New Yorker described the secret to Bukowski's appeal as ... [that] “he combines the confessional poet's promise of intimacy with the larger-than-life aplomb of a pulp-fiction hero." (Krish, 2005)
Charles Bukowski via Frankfurter Allgemeine Magazin, May 31 1985
Bukowski was born 101 years ago today on August 16th, 1920. Although born in Andernach, Germany; at a young age, Bukowski and his family immigrated to the United States, settling in the city of Los Angeles, where Bukowski was raised and eventually died.
Bukowski grew up with a tough upbringing; impoverished, with a father who frequently beat him (as detailed in his autobiographical novel Ham on Rye, 1982) bullied at school, and supposedly had skin so bad that no woman would associate with him. All of these things aided his writing career he claims, they enabled him
“.. to come to terms with undeserved pain.”
At 24 years old Bukowski moved to New York City where he sought to begin his writing career, however after much work and little reward he was unable to make a big break in the literary world. As a result, he quit writing in pursuit of travelling around the country thus beginning what he described as “the lost years” as a “ten-year drunk.” Eventually landing back in Los Angeles cozied up with a near-lethal bleeding ulcer, Bukowski decided to begin writing again. To supplement his renaissance he worked a string of low-income blue-collar jobs, including at a pickle factory and as a mail courier which later inspired his first and arguably most notable autobiographical novel -Post Office(1972).
Book covers published by Bukowski
Over time Bukowski has written over a thousand poems, hundreds of short stories, and has published at least 60 books as well as dabbling in visual art. In his lifetime many found his work offensive as he often romanticized alcohol abuse, violence, and misogyny. As such, Bukowski didn’t experience much-recognized fame in the U.S, however he enjoyed vast recognition in Europe especially in the place of his birth, Germany.
(Charles Bukowski for Frankfurter Allgemeine Magazin, May 31 1985 via Bukowskiforum.com)
Posthumously, Charles Bukowski has become a counterculture idol simply because he was an unsavoury character with no regrets in the way that he lived his life; and that relates to many.
Surprisingly Charles Bukowski didn’t die of alcohol-related causes, instead, he passed away of Leukaemia on March 9th, 1994. His life’s work can be summed up with the two words he left on his headstone “Don’t Try.”
Bukowski Gravestone via Flikr 2010