Buk's forewords for other writers (1 Viewer)

[roni]

In some other thread it just came up and I thought: hey, let's collect all the forwords we know of.
off the top of my head comes:

- Steve Richmond: 'Hitler Painted Roses' (1966)
- William Wantling: '7 On Style' (19xx) [ - unpublished - ]
- Al Masarik: 'Invitation to a Dying' (1971)
- John Fante: 'Ask The Dust' (1979)
- Michael Montfort: 'Photographs 1977-1987 (1987)
- Douglas Goodwin: 'Half Memory of a Distant Life' (1987)

I'm pretty sure, I knew of 1 or 2 more. Will have a look.

I've recently read about a foreword he declined to write in the early 60s but can't recall the poet. Was it Jory Sherman maybe? We should list this too.

maybe it would make for a nice (extra-)thread to also list his reviews of other authors? (Hemingway, Artaud, ...) yes.

 

[Digney in Burnaby]

Bukowski wrote a short "Purdy Appreciation" for Al Purdy's At Marsport Drugstore (The Paget Press, 1977). (Again, I can't upload any images. No specific error # or reason, just a red bar saying there's a problem.)

(Can be found here, back when the computers were with, and not against, me.)

 

[mjp]

Don't know which books these were for, but:

[To John William Corrington]
May 23, 1963
[* * *] On the foreword to Sherman’s book you will see that I am talking mostly about myself, which is savage and lets out air and sometimes a little light. Don’t worry about me laying out any bolognas out on the stage. I mostly blast Shapiro in it, in opening, not mentioning name, about using his name to promote another college Eng. teacher, and giving the grand come-on, I found the pages not to be like that at all. This is just part of it.
You know what he said?
Well, the book never would have gotten printed without it.
That’s what he said. [* * *]

[To A. D. Winans]
November [?], 1974
[***] About the foreword you yanked, o.k. That’s what an editor’s for…you either promulgate the thing or you reject it. In this game we all get stuff back, and sometimes get things taken and published that would have been better tossed away with the used condoms.

[To Gerald Locklin]
June 22, 1984
[* * *] Hey, I’ve submitted to you a proposed foreword. 2 copies. If it works for you, please send on to your man. If it doesn’t work, then I’m glad the Celtics did it to your boys.

I've recently read about a foreword he declined to write in the early 60s but can't recall the poet. Was it Jory Sherman maybe? We should list this too.

Maybe this one?

[To Douglas Blazek]
Early February 1965
I can’t do you a foreword because if I did you a foreword (on these grounds) there would also be other people I should do a foreword for also.

 

[roni]

[...] Maybe this one? [To Douglas Blazek]

I think so, yes. I remember having read Doug was pretty pissed.
Also I seem to remember that the forword for AD never was written and also caused some argument.

At the very moment I really mix all those together in my head since I've read about all of them in letters and mamoirs not long ago, but since this wasn't my subject, didn't make any notes and forgot all the proper connections.
But I can look up and find most of it again, I think.
not tonight though.

 

[David]

The "Foreword" to Wantling's 7 on Style has been published in Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook.
There's a Buk "Introduction" to Doug Blazek's Skull Juices (1970)
Also, believe it or not, there's a brief "Foreword" to the actor Macdonald Carey's Beyond That Further Hill (1989)
as well as several others...

 

[Purple Stickpin]

Although not presented as a Forward, Buk wrote an introductory piece for The Willie's The Cockroach Hotel (1968) called Charles Bukowski on Willie.

CHARLES BUKOWSKI ON WILLIE

Willie is a guy you can't hate. Willie is having a​

look around. he's no phoney hippy, he's no phoney any-
thing. Willie is all the way there. how long he will
stay there, I do not know. but I am very happy that you
are doing a book on Willie, I mean a book of Willie's
poems, which is the same thing.

A lot of these guys come off the road with a chip-​

on-the-shoulder I know it all bit. I've made the road
and I know that there's not much to learn out there.
it's death and a drag and hot and cold weather and not
feeling so good, but nobody comes in with a new concept
of human values. I didn't. Willie doesn't pretend to.
he drinks his beer and scratches himself. and not saying
it, he says it more than ever. Willie's got a book
coming. Willie is a miracle in a time of very little
miracles. when the damn thing comes out bill me for a
copy, and feel that we will both collect.

​

​

--Buk​

Los Angeles Aug. 12, 1967​

​

He also wrote the forward to Anthology of L.A. Poets (1972), which may not quite count since he has poems in there, but it's worth mentioning. It's rather long so I can't be bothered to type that one in. :aerb:

 

[roni]

The "Foreword" to Wantling's 7 on Style has been published in Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook.

of course it was! sorry, David. Didn't mean any disrespect to your work!
what I meant writing "unpublished" was: not published in the context it had been written for.

 

[David]

Disrespect! Gott im Himmel! Nur wenn du trinkst zu wenig
Bernkastler bin ich veraergert!

 

[Joseph K]

of course it was! sorry, David. Didn't mean any disrespect to your work!

What is with this fucking politeness, Roni? We have to maintain our reputation as a bunch mean-spirited, petty-minded, foul-mouthed sons of bitches on this site. And I'll not have you raising the tone...

 

[Gary Eisenberg]

Nice. Feeling right at home here, thank you, Gentlemen....

 

[Danny Mac]

Yeah, what the Hell!

 

[roni]

[...] this fucking politeness, [...]

when I'm talking about or to David, it's never politeness but pure worship.

 

[Danny Mac]

I've recently read about a foreword he declined to write in the early 60s but can't recall the poet. Was it Jory Sherman maybe? We should list this too.

roni, I can't believe this but I am about to contribute something of intellectual significance to this site. I did not think that such a thing would occur. I remembered your first post on this thread and kept it in mind. I am re-reading some of Buk's letters from 'Screams From the Balcony' (great title) as I wait for Shake Spear Never Did This to show up at my front door. I just read that Buk DID write a foreward to Sherman's book. You can find this on page 83 in a letter to Jon and Louise Webb. This was on July 28, 1963. He wrote to them a lot.

So your supposition was correct. He did write something for Sherman. I feel very smart now, now that I have made an intellectual contribution to your investigation. This will probably never happen again.

 

[hank solo]

Don't know which books these were for, but:

[To John William Corrington]
May 23, 1963
[* * *] On the foreword to Sherman’s book you will see that I am talking mostly about myself, which is savage and lets out air and sometimes a little light. Don’t worry about me laying out any bolognas out on the stage. I mostly blast Shapiro in it, in opening, not mentioning name, about using his name to promote another college Eng. teacher, and giving the grand come-on, I found the pages not to be like that at all. This is just part of it.
You know what he said?
Well, the book never would have gotten printed without it.
That’s what he said. [* * *]

Just above that letter is this note:-

Jory Sherman’s My Face in Wax with an introduction by Bukowski was published by
Windfall Press, Chicago, in 1965.

 

[roni]

thanks Danny!
good work!

and as usual, thanks to our very own rainman hanksolo.

 

[roni]

[...] this note: "Jory Sherman’s My Face in Wax with an introduction by Bukowski was published by Windfall Press, Chicago, in 1965."

shame on me!
I've just re-read parts of my manuscript for corrections/editing purposes and there I talked about Sherman and already HAVE written about the 'Face in Wax'-foreword. (only I give the year 1964. Will have another second look on that. Not sure now what's been my source for that date.)

I simply had forgotten, what I had written somewhere in July! My Korsakoff is beginning to bug me pretty much.

 

[Danny Mac]

Didn't I try to tell you that you were Awesome and you brushed me off. But, here again is proof of your thoroughness. Imagine a schulb like me trying to inform you of something you don't already know about. Now will you give your self some credit?

 

[Gary Eisenberg]

My Korsakoff is beginning to bug me pretty much.

Rimsky? Or that "other" variety? If so, I'd recommend no more beer for you - rheinheitsgebot or otherwise.

 

[Pogue Mahone Athbheoim]

The prospectus for the Black Sparrow Press version of Ask the Dust includes Bukowski's introduction.

 

[zobraks]

A reference to “Ask the Dust” and to two of Fante’s other books, “Dago Red” and “Wait Until Spring, Bandini,” in the manuscript of one of Bukowski’s own novels caught the eye of his publisher, John Martin of Black Sparrow Press. “Bandini was the name of a well-known brand of fertilizer,” says Martin. “I thought it was Bukowski’s idea of a joke.” That was in 1978. Not until a year later did the publisher get around to inquiring, and learn from his author that John Fante was no joke.

Hilarious.

 

[Pogue Mahone Athbheoim]

There are references to Bukowski introductions/prefaces all around the forum, but because Roni was trying to capture a list, I'll post them all here.

This is At Marsport Drugstore. Aren't the last couple of lines beautiful?

 

[Rekrab]

I'm often kind of dense, but I don't get your comment about the drugstore. Nice intro. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Pogue Mahone Athbheoim]

Maybe I am dense. Perhaps I mistook the last sentences for Bukowski, not Purdy's lines? Regardless, they're beautiful.

If you're referring to the title, it's this book.

 

[Rekrab]

Ah, now it's clear. Thanks.

 

[Pogue Mahone Athbheoim]

Here's: Douglas Goodwin: 'Half Memory of a Distant Life' (1987)

 

[Rekrab]

Thanks for posting that intro. I don't think I've ever seen it. Good stuff.

 

[Pogue Mahone Athbheoim]

Here's the introduction for John William Corrington’s Mr. Clean from 1964. This was before Bukowski met him in person and they had their falling out. I remember reading in one of the letters volumes that Bukowski wrote a review of his next book for a poetry journal and burned him out of spite.

 

[Pogue Mahone Athbheoim]

When it was time for him to return the favor for everything Blazek did for him, Bukowski didn't short change him on the words. This is more of a critical study than an introduction. This is "Skull Juices" from 1970.