Father Luke, thanks for the recomendations on the books, I will check them out, and Roni, thank's very much for the interpretations. I totally agreed with you until I got to thinking that Bukowski as a fly seems to be a common theme in his work. Not in the way that Buk was literally using flies in other works, but in the way that flies are a object of disgust. People have plenty of preconcieved notions about flies that won't be changed as the flies of the world recieve no representation. Except it seems, through Bukowski. It seems like in work after work Buk is forcing people to look at aspects of life that society finds ugly and improper. Maybe the fly on your hand just finished munchin some steak on your neighbor's dinner table, but you assume when you see it that it came from some animal carcus, or a pile of feces. I figure that Buk lived through the rise and fall of 2major counter-culture movements in the US, he saw society clash with these movements (the beats in the 50s and Hippies in the 60s), and he saw the movements crushed. These were non violent, but annoying movements for the mainstream, they were met with violence, the most outspoken of those in the movements were silenced, and the remaining pacified flies remain, allowed to coexist with society. This could very well be one hell of a stretch that I had to make in order to produce a paper on the poem, but I feel pretty comfortable with it because I think that I can support it adequately. I do see Buk just sitting in the room, maybe drinking some wine and trying to get something done, and then being facinated by his violent inner cave man being brought to the surface by such a tiny annoyance. I really like hearing everyone's insights on this. I feel like even if I don't use someone elses approach, at least I'm, getting exposed to it. THANKS
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- Thread starter Jason Raimondo
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HAHA I'm that Jak off! But thank you!! I have a presentation on this poem later today and at least some of the last few posts had a few useful ideas for things to talk about. Plus I learned a little more about the guy.
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So, this is how a writer's legacy is made.
Yes, Jakthefish...go with that analysis. Henry Charles Bukowski's literary persona is that he thought of himself as a fly, and it built up in him when he saw the hippie counter-culture crushed and silenced before his quivering eyes, and now he has become that fly, buzzing in the face of society for all-time on behalf of lost hippies.
Future scholars will come here and find this wisdom, copy it, and thus the legend of Bukowski is born anew.
Yes, Jakthefish...go with that analysis. Henry Charles Bukowski's literary persona is that he thought of himself as a fly, and it built up in him when he saw the hippie counter-culture crushed and silenced before his quivering eyes, and now he has become that fly, buzzing in the face of society for all-time on behalf of lost hippies.
Future scholars will come here and find this wisdom, copy it, and thus the legend of Bukowski is born anew.
