Bukowski on boxing (1 Viewer)

[Rekrab]

I'm aware of the story "Kid Stardust on the Porterhouse" in Erections, etc.; Are there any other Bukowski stories, poems, or sections of novels about boxing matches, where the fight is described? I'm writing a fight scene in a novel and want to see what Hank has done. Not to steal from him or emulate him, but just in case I'm missing some huge obvious element that I should be aware of. Any leads are appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Rekrab]

Oops -- I just reread "Kid Stardust on the Porterhouse" and while the narrator talks about having been a boxer, the story's about a job in a meatpacking plant. So I'm thinking of some other early Buk story where he goes to a boxing match, maybe with a wife or girl friend. Does anybody know that story? By the way, I drafted my scene first, before doing this "research," because I didn't want to be too influenced by the way he wrote it.

 

[David]

More Notes of A Dirty Old Man, p. 91 which begins: "I took Patricia to the fights at the Olympic, we were eight or nine rows back and began drinking beer. The opening amateur fights were the best, as usual, and it was hot in there and the beer was good. Patricia and I bet 50 cents each fight and let our loyalties be known, better and better known with each new beer. By the time the six rounder came around we were screaming things like...." There is a fight described later....but not in the ring.:wb: There is a real fight described in another story from More Notes, p. 112 which begins "If you think being a matchmaker is easy you're wrong." "The fight really went off. I was there. When the bell rang Gibson turned and crossed himself in his corner, then scowled and came toward the center of the ring. He looked good. Young Sharky met him in ring center and hit him with a medium left cross to the body. Gibson dropped, stretched on his back and took the ten count. When get got up and walked back to his corner he still looked good...."(116)

 

[hank solo]

Bukowski wrote about going to boxing matches in various poems, in Women (Ch. 37) and in stories like Goodbye Watson, but I don't recall any instance where he wrote about an actual fight in any detail.

 

[Rekrab]

More Notes of A Dirty Old Man, p. 91 which begins: "I took Patricia to the fights at the Olympic [...] another story from More Notes, p. 112 which begins "If you think being a matchmaker is easy you're wrong." [...]

Thanks, David. I recently got a copy of More Notes that I haven't read yet, so I'll check those passages out.

Bukowski wrote about going to boxing matches in various poems, in Women (Ch. 37) and in stories like Goodbye Watson, but I don't recall any instance where he wrote about an actual fight in any detail.

Thanks, hank solo. After I posted yesterday, I found the passage in Women, and that may be the "early story" I was thinking about, where he brings a woman to a boxing match. I don't recall "Goodbye Watson" from Erections. I'll take a look at that one. There's also something about boxing in Septuagenarian Stew where he talks about a match in some detail. I need to reread that one as well. However, what I may be thinking of when I'm remembering an early story with a fight description are some of the early pieces where he writes about a baseball game or a horse race in detail, and mixing that memory with taking the woman to the fights in Women.

Basically, I should reread all of Bukowski, to freshen up my knowledge of his work. That will be a hell of a lot of fun, because I've forgotten so much of it. I started reading him in the mid-1960s.

The fight scene I'm writing is near the end of a novel, Stella Vero. It's an important scene and I want it to feel right.

 

[Stavrogin]

Try the story "Class" from South of No North. Not much but may help.

 

[Rekrab]

Thanks, stavrogin. I'll try that one.

The story in Septuagenarian Stew is called "The Winner." It's a good one, and exactly the sort of thing I was looking for: an almost blow by blow description of a boxing match, told from the manager's perspective. The fighter he handles is named "Bobby Barker" (Ha!)