Recent content by SouthernGentleman

Honest men are the antidote to paranoia. They make you see that your emotions are not abnormal, or unjustified. It's just that others are so good at hiding them, and this makes you feel misanthropic or cynical or in some way deviant. Honest men let you know that you're not alone. Bukowski's...

I think it would depend on whether he was drunk, and on whether there was a camera on him. -SouthernGentleman

Nope. I'm saying that professional critics of literature, who argue that Bukowski "doesn't warrant serious attention", are often those who 1) failed as writers themselves (there are a LOT of these; immerse yourself in the world of editing as a summer intern and you will see) and 2) use a...

It almost feels silly having to answer this question. YES. His "critics" are creative failures who can't find the resources in Bukowski to help them in the writing of obscurantist bullshit that is academic English scholarship. Thus, they resent him.

Mission Impossible II, Remember the Titans.... :D

"Being 'realistic' is often little more than a justification for negative thinking." -Dr. John Eliot, performance psychologist formerly at Rice University I bet that a lot of people who read Bukowski find in his books a justification for their own negative thinking, for their own lack of...

The Answer to This Recurring Question Was he an alcoholic? Surprise surprise--this depends on how you define your terms. Stipulation #1: S is an alcoholic if and only if S is a habitual drunkard. Relative to #1, Bukowski was an alcoholic. Stipulation #2: S is an alocholic if and only if S...

This is just something I've recently discovered, because I think I may have lost a close friend due to leaving drunk phone messages (for fun), sending drunk e-mails, and so forth too often, and she thinks I'm out of control. The thing I learned is that your friends need to have a good...

Thanks Rubyred, and thanks hoochmonkey9. It was Buk-inspired but not written while drunk, only while drinking, and so I may be an interloper in this thread. SouthernGentleman

The Missing Eye Test Would I treat her the same, would she be as smart kind virtuous thoughtful valuable in my mind if she had only one eye and I could see the muscles inside twitching, pink as a pussy?

Factotum. The last few paragraphs sting like few others.

I don't think I will say anything very original, but here it goes... 1) The nakedness of his prose. He knew that there is a quiet beauty in simple sentences and simple words. Simple and austere, not simplistic. 2) The vulnerability of his writings about himself. Most humans spend their...

Black Swan and ROC Hey guys, Let's try to get back to the topic, if that's all right. Debating the conditions of assertability, the relation between assertion and knowledge, and so forth is something you two can do in epistemology forums and journals. For now, let's keep the good...

The Autopsy Was Wrong

Work in a corporate office. Work for the city. Work for the government. Work in a mortgage office. Work as an accountant. Work for a consulting firm Overall, any job that the average college graduate seeks.