Bukowski's real surname? (2 Viewers)

I remember reading somewhere, some time ago, that Bukowski's real surname wasn't infact Bukowski, but something quite similar. I think it was just a different suffix, but I really can't remember what.


Anyone know what it was?
 
Ahh, it's definately not Bukovski. I'm living in Russia at the moment and everybody here calls him Bukovski, so I would have definately remembered it from that.

I think I read about it in that Howard Sounes biography of him. Unfortunately that's thousands of miles away now!
 
Ahh, it's definately not Bukovski. I'm living in Russia at the moment and everybody here calls him Bukovski, so I would have definately remembered it from that.

I think I read about it in that Howard Sounes biography of him. Unfortunately that's thousands of miles away now!


" They also changed the pronunciation of their surname to Buk-cow-ski, as opposed to the harder European pronunciation which is Buk-ov-ski. "

This is a quote from Sounes when he describes the immigration from Germany to the US so maybe you mixed something?
 
I highly doubt that BukoVski is a name that came out of Germany

You're right! The family name probably came from Poland way back in the past. Nowadays Bukowski is a normal name in Germany, I believe...
 
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And speaking of Germans, they seem to enjoy Bukowski's writing greatly, so I've noticed. I wonder if this is because of Buk's German connection?
 
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I guess it's the scathological humour... but don't quote me on that.

I've been to Germany a handful of times and I've always met people who would say they recognized the name or heard about him.
 
And speaking of Germans, they seem to enjoy Bukowski's writing greatly, so I've noticed. I wonder if this is because of Buk's German connection?

I would think so (and Bukowski still has family in Germany). Maybe our fellow forum member, Roni, is the person best suited to answer your question. He's on the board in the German Bukowski Society - Bukowski Gesellschaft. The only Bukowski Society in the world, I believe. They hold symposiums every year in Andernach, Buk's birthplace and they also publish a yearbook.
One reason for his German popularity was that his German translator and friend, Carl Weissner, worked hard at getting him published.

Roni, where are you? :)
 
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That's right, Bukfan. His big reputation doesn't come from his semi-German descent but from the hard efforts of Carls Weissner to make him popular here.

In the early 70s it was VERY hard for Weissner to place Buk's poetry. No publisher would have the guts.

Then Benno Kaesmayr from (very small) MaroVerlag did it - and almost got broke with it. (after about half a year he only had sold 100 copies of 'Gedichte, die einer schrieb, bevor er im 8. Stock aus dem Fenster sprang' = 'Poems written before jumping out of an 8th storey window'.) Then, at the Frankfurt book-fair he was lucky to find a fan of Buk who was connected to a lot of booksellers (his name is Armin Abmeier) and he got the thing started.

(Before that there was only the 'Notes' published here, I think.) Weissner went on and did excerpts of the 'Erections'. They made 4 books in Germany 3 of which were published by Maro again. And THEN the big business arrived: A publisher named 'Zweitausendeins' started to make Buk, and they made him BIG. There's a book, named 'Stories und Romane' (='Stories and Novels') containing 'Post Office', 'Factotum', 'Notes' AND 'South of No North' all in ONE Volume! (It was also 'Zweitausendeins' who invited Buk to his famous reading in Hamburg.)

So this was the start in the Mid 70s to make Buk the cult figure he was in Germany. I think, untill 'Barfly' came out he made far more money with book-sales in Germany than in the whole US.

Still most Germans read his prose rather than his poetry. Only after one gave it a try and discovered the poetry - he gets addicted. But most poetry here is still for sissies and housewives and that's why many good people don't even give it a try.

Carl Weissner is kind of a legendary figure here for Buk-fans. Though there were several other guys translating him too, everybody connects these two. Weissner has done him very good here. He was also one of his coffin bearers.
 
That's right, Bukfan. And THEN the big business arrived: A publisher named 'Zweitausendeins' started to make Buk, and they made him BIG. There's a book, named 'Stories und Romane' (='Stories and Novels') containing 'Post Office', 'Factotum', 'Notes' AND 'South of No North' all in ONE Volume!

The publisher ran an ad for the book in the German mag "Pardon" in Aug. 1977. There was the famous pic of Buk and Georgia and some quotes. One of them was the one about jails, hospitals and asylums being the universities of life. I got so intrigued by that ad that I had to check this Buk fellow out, so I went to the library and found an english version of Post Office (Buk wasn't translated into Danish back then). After reading that I was hooked and the rest is history as they say...
 
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So thanks to Zweitausendeins they brought you to Buk.

One more thing - concerning the surname: Sounes isn't talking about the spelling of the name, just the pronunciation. So, it always has been spelled 'Bukowski', only if you pronounce this in German, it SOUNDS like 'Boo-koff-ski' (or as Sounes put it 'Bukovski'). A little like the ending of 'Rachmaninoff'. They obviously changed that to 'Bu-cow-ski' but kept the spelling. Right?
 
right (and you would know!) i have an audio tape of various and sundry bukowski material...one of the items is an interview conducted by a german woman, and she pronounces the surname with a "v." she didn't much like b's description of his father as being "very german;" ie. strict/cruel. i wonder why? :rolleyes:
 
You're right! The family name probably came from Poland way back in the past. Nowadays Bukowski is a normal name in Germany, I believe...

i've wondered about this. check out p.28 of the Madrigals; the poem, "O, We Are the Outcasts." i wonder if the "poet/doctor" is based on a real person.
 
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You're right! The family name probably came from Poland way back in the past. Nowadays Bukowski is a normal name in Germany, I believe...

You are right it is definately a name with a source in Poland and not in Germany !
 
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The exactly spelling is : Heinrich Karl Bukowski :)

Spot on, at least according to Barry Miles' Biography. He also indicates that the name Bukowski may originate from the village of Bukowsko in Galicia near the current Polish border. A squire named Buk became a nobleman and Buk became Bukowski. Either that, or something completely different.;)
 
Sounces biography says: Heinrich Karl Bukowski

also has this:

"When they arrived in Baltimore, Bukowski's mother started calling herself Kate, so she sounded more American, and little Heinrich became little henr. They also changed the pronunciation of their surname to Buk-cow-ski, as opposed to the harder European pronunciation with is Buk-ov-ski."
(pg 8 chapter 1)
 
i've wondered about this. check out p.28 of the Madrigals; the poem, "O, We Are the Outcasts." i wonder if the "poet/doctor" is based on a real person.

Well, if there's a poem out there about Buk calling him the Polack, then the "Doctor (and poet)" must be real too. It's difficult to say how much (if anything) of that part of the poem is founded in facts...
 
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