I thought I would drop you tidbit. I was recently talking to someone who was close to the project to publish the Buk-Norse correspondence. Apparently the manuscript was all prepped and with intro and ready to roll but there was a problem. Norse was alive (he died in 2009) and happy to see the book out but Linda (or the Buk estate - which is essentially Linda, isn't it?) insisted on the book coming out with City Lights. Norse didn't want anything by him to appear with CL because of...reasons... (I don't know what. Bad blood with Ferl for some reason.) So the project was shelved. Apparently there was a lot of great stuff and it would be fascinating to read. I guess Abel and others have seen the stuff and it isn't top secret but for those of us who don't want to trawl computer scans it is a shame we don't have a book.
Bukowski-Norse letters (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Joseph K
- Start date
I'm curious as to why the Estate insisted on City Lights - was this shortly after BSP folded? If not BSP, CL makes sense (unless one wants a hardcover, of course; done deal there). But should the wishes of the living go unheeded once they have passed, simply for the benefit of those who have not? Methinks not.
Well, theoretically it is the hands of the Norse estate now. It might be nice for it to come out in a university press edition, hardback with some good notes on references. The down side of that would be cost. Perhaps Ecco would come in for the PB. Are any of the letter collections still in print in the US? I know Virgin handled the recent(ish) UK editions.
Screams from the Balcony, Living on Luck, Reach for the Sun and Beerspit Night and Cursing are still in the ecco catalog, but the Purdy collection is not: https://www.harpercollins.com/search-results/?search-term=Charles+Bukowski.
This is likely because The Buk/Purdy Letters was published by Paget Press and not Black Sparrow Press and thus, wasn't part of the sale of BSP.
This is likely because The Buk/Purdy Letters was published by Paget Press and not Black Sparrow Press and thus, wasn't part of the sale of BSP.
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
I can put you in touch with the Norse executor. All would have to go thru then. That being said, Linda may have wanted the book published through CL because then they would have been able to pay royalties. City Lights apparently passed on a Norse collected book of poems (as did I), so they may not be in the market for this. Letters would be great, but I doubt that City Lights could sell enough to be worth it. I'd publish it, but if Linda is set on CL, then it is a dead issue.
