16 books, 2,000 poems and 191 periodical appearances by late 1970 (1 Viewer)

[cirerita]

To bullshit or not to bullshit, there's no question about it. The 250,000 sold copies of Notes was an outright lie. Maybe the Nola editors didn't know that, but B. knew it and was quick to write them a letter to tell them it was simply not true.

The 16 books, 2,000 poems and 191 mag appearances bit... well, that's not an outright lie ;)

 

[Father Luke]

Fifty years of life. Just amazing.

 

[Rekrab]

I think that's the first vintage ad like that I've seen touting the number of copies sold by a Bukowski book. It's weirdly mainstream on the part of Nola to do that. I believe the 2,000 poems. The 191 periodical appearances almost seems too low. Any idea where that number came from?

 

[mjp]

I believe the 2,000 poems. The 191 periodical appearances almost seems too low. Any idea where that number came from?

2000 published poems in 1970? Hmm...

cirerita has a lot of appearances that are not in the database (hopefully that will be remedied soon ;)), but as I have been going through the database line by line cleaning it and fixing it and getting rid of duplication, the total count for number of works has dropped to just over 4000 (4087 as a matter of fact, in 697 different magazines, 109 books). And that includes some duplication of poems that appeared under different (or slightly different) titles.

Haven't ever broken it down by year, but I would assume that he published much more in the 70's and 80's - after he became well known - than he did in the 60's...he certainly wrote more after he quit the post office, so it only makes sense.

Anyway, 2000 poems in 191 mags would be more than 10 per mag, which is too high.

---

Update: I'm finished processing the periodical appearances into the new db, and have only about half of the 109 books remaining. Of course once I "finish," c is going to come out with all his data. What happens after that is truly a mystery.

The future is unwritten!

 

[MULLINAX]

What is the source of the Miller quote? (Apart from NOLA Express) Any sources for the Genet and Sartre quotes that are always thrown around? Or is it all made up?

Any EXTANT correspondence between Buk and Miller? I've seen a letter or two addressed to a "Dear Friend" that was purportedly addressed to Bukowski. Anything verifiable?

Did Sartre really extend an invitation to Bukowski when our man Buk was in Paris?

And did Buk really "see" Burroughs sitting in a chair but fail to meet him because of a lack of interest on both, or someone's, parts or part?

 

[cirerita]

The Miller quote was made up by Weissner. B didn't like the idea, but he did like the fake blurb itself.

According to our friend the Pink Gnome, it was B. himself who made up the fake Genet and Sartre blurbs.

As far as I know, there's only one letter from Miller to B, which was made available for the general public sometime in the 80's. I think to recall that I uploaded a letter from Miller to the Webbs. Check the U&U forum.

The Sartre and Burroughs bits might be true... or just another brick in the B. myth-making wall.

 

[MULLINAX]

Thanks a hell of a lot!

 

[roni]

The Miller quote was made up by Weissner. B didn't like the idea, but he did like the fake blurb itself.

The Miller-quote in that Nola-add is NOT the one, that Weissner made up!

(Don't have my books at hand here, but an accurate translation from Weissner's quote is published in the letters, I think in Living on Luck.
I also remember, Buk writes about a correspondence with Miller back in the 60s, where he [Miller] is trying to tell Buk, how to stay creative - not too much drinking and carrying a notebook.
And he sure knew some people who knew Miller then.
So the NOLA-quote COULD be true.)

On the Genet-Sartre-thing:
consult 'Reach for the Sun', p99f. (letter to Jeff Weddle from Jan 26, 1988)

 

[cirerita]

yup, you're right, the fake blurb by Weissner was not that one!

roni, you can read here the Miller letter you mentioned before, but I don't see that Nola quote:
http://collectingbukowski.com/misc/dearfriend2.html

And that Nola quote is not here either:
https://bukowskiforum.com/showthread.php?t=63

I guess it's in some other letter we haven't seen yet...