Bukowski vs. William Burroughs (2 Viewers)

Can anybody recall any interaction (correspondence or otherwise) between the Buk & Burroughs?

I read in Sounes' biography that during a reading tour, where both Burroughs and Buk were reading, Burroughs cold-shouldered Buk and I don't know why this happened? Buk appeared to respect Burroughs, but there didn't seem to be any reciprocation.
 
It was someplace in California where both were giving a reading. I don't remember the story too well but the upshot was that Buk stalled in the lobby, fucking around with a soda machine or something, in order to "miss" Burroughs
 
When photographer Michael Montfort was cleaning out Bukowski's office after he died (at the request of Linda Bukowski), he threw away - among many, many other things - two very thick, unopened letters from William S. Burroughs.

- - -

To anticipate the follow up question that I'm sure a lot of you will have, it was Linda's wish that everything be thrown out. Montfort said he was near tears throwing away papers that he thought were important. But Linda was insistent that everything go into the dumpster. She wouldn't let him set anything aside.

If you've ever been in Bukowski's writing room or seen pictures of it after his death, you can see that many of the mundane everyday things were kept. And of course the Huntington got most of the things related to his books and writing. But a couple of file cabinets and a closet full of personal correspondence, photographs, recordings and various other things went into a dumpster and were hauled off to a landfill.
 
When photographer Michael Montfort was cleaning out Bukowski's office after he died (at the request of Linda Bukowski), he threw away - among many, many other things - two very thick, unopened letters from William S. Burroughs.
:wb:
 
But a couple of file cabinets and a closet full of personal correspondence, photographs, recordings and various other things went into a dumpster and were hauled off to a landfill.

Now, where's that landfill located? :p
 
Linda was insistent that everything go into the dumpster.
it was Linda's wish that everything be thrown out.
Looks like all the people closest to him (J. Martin, Linda L/B) had to do a lot of good to Buk while he was alive only to stab him in the back when he was no more.
Was it written so in his last will?
 
I'm assuming this is a late April Fool's joke...MJP, did you hear this from Montfort himself? I think it nearly 99.9% impossible that Burroughs would write Bukowski for any reason whatsoever.
 
I heard it from Montfort, my friend who did the Bukshot exhibition of Montfort's photos here in Los Angeles heard it from him, and I would assume anyone who was friendly with him heard it. There are likely people here in the forum that heard it from him. It was a painful experience for him, you could see that in his face when he talked about it.

Montfort didn't strike me as a guy who exaggerated things, so I took him at his word. The Burroughs letters stood out to him, but they were only the tip of the iceberg.
 
that last line actually hurt to read it...

I agree. Looks like that will be one mystery that will never be explained. Two, very thick unopened letters to the Buk from Old Bull Lee! Pure gold! But why didn't Buk open them? And if he didn't want to open them, then why keep them? Did he guess what was in them? Something hostile?

Still, why would Linda want all that stuff thrown out? Surely she saw that it would be of great value and significance to Buk collectors?
 
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I heard it from Montfort, [...] and I would assume anyone who was friendly with him heard it. [...] It was a painful experience for him, you could see that in his face when he talked about it.
I only can confirm.
Though he didn't talk to me particularily about Burroughs'-letters, he told me the story about the dumpster, twice, I think, or maybe even 3 times during the years.

That was at first on the phone, and when we met in person it came up again. I asked him if there wasn't a chance to come back at night to save all the stuff from the garbage-cans. He said there was no way. Everybody who experienced his total fanatical collector's-attitude will agree, that if HE says, there was no way to save these things, there was NO way.
 
The same thing seems to happen ... Byron's journals got trashed - not sure if it was his half-sister, Burton's erotica (collected from all over the world) consigned to the flames by his widow!

What is wrong with people...
 
What is wrong with people...
Peoplearenotgood2_zps0addff36.jpg
 
So it's greedy and materialistic to save a writer's papers, got it.

What about all that shit in those greedy, materialistic archives and museums? Should all of that go into the skip as well?

I like where you're going with this, just a little unclear on the details.
 
You could even reverse content of the poem (?) and it would still make some kinda sense:

What we need is less greed,
less materialism!
That way people won't destroy things
or burn them,
or toss them into the skip!

:p
 
I am very confused about what BukFan Brad said. I'm pretty sure it would have been much better if we all would have been able to see ALL of the stuff that Buk had saved on those shelves over the years. This website is about and for those people who are fans of Bukowski.
 
Presumably the Burroughs letters were identifiable because they were from WSB Communications Lawrence, Kansus. It could be that it was someone in WSB's office writing to check something with Buk or a note with an exclosure and not actually a long letter from WSB himself. From what I heard, WSB's letter writing tapered off a lot in his last years.

MJP, did they also destroy MSS by Buk in that clear out? I thought that was the one thing that was sacred to Linda.
 
Montfort didn't say anything about manuscripts when he told me about the incident, and it seems like something he would have mentioned if he'd been asked to dump them.
 
I am very confused about what BukFan Brad said. I'm pretty sure it would have been much better if we all would have been able to see ALL of the stuff that Buk had saved on those shelves over the years.
Not all of it. Just the good stuff!
it was Linda's wish that everything be thrown out. Montfort said he was near tears throwing away papers that he thought were important. But Linda was insistent that everything go into the dumpster. She wouldn't let him set anything aside.
I wonder what Linda Lee would have thought if Montfort hadn't taken it to the dump but instead stash it somewhere in a bank deposit box along similar lines to the "Scrope-Davies find"?
 
This is nuts, I never knew about the trashing of all the papers... all I can do is sit here and shake me head wondering what the hell... I guess it wasn't meant to be, I imagine it was painful for Montfort to talk about an all this information is really cool, even if it's a travesty.
 

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