Charles Bukowski: Censorship Does Pay - New Chapbook from Beat Scene (1 Viewer)

cirerita

Founding member
Well, I was waiting a bit to post the news about this book, but Ponder beat me to it :D

Mod Edit: Thread 'tweaked' to move this to the top, by request

I just heard from a photographer who allowed us to use a really cool pic of B. circa 1980 (I think I posted the pic here a while ago) for free, so I guess it's about time. And, yeah, you heard that right, a photographer who is not asking any money at all to use one of his Bukowski pics. Unusual, methinks. Everybody knows photographers are a very special breed and... well, let's leave it at that.

Anyway, it's a (slightly) reworked excerpt from the thesis about a few controversial periodicals featuring B's work which were censored, suppressed or seized by the police. Some of them are quite rare and others are more common, but in both cases there are loads of never-seen-before info, of course ;)

I know you guys just bought the Chance Press book, but, believe me, you don't want to miss out on this one either. Spend your money on a good cause!!
 
Thanks, Ponder! It'll be a nice addition the Abel's Chance Press book.
 
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No question: I will buy EVERY Debritto-chap that comes out!

And I think, it's save to say now, there may be more than one in the pipe for 2010.
 
The Beat Scene chap should be out next week. The cover below is not the final one, but it should give you an idea:

http://www.beatscene.net/index.asp

Abelscoverforsite.jpg
 
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I kind of liked this alternate cover (if properly resized!) better than the one Kevin finally printed, but it seems that the smaller image was used to preserve the spirit of the series. Anyway, just go to Beat Scene and order your copy NOW, I really need to get rich ;)

Alternate cover Censorship.jpg
 
I've just sent Kevin Ring an Email about how to order the book. It seems like ordering directly from his webpage is set up for UK residents only.
 
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Mine arrived today, so they should be making their way to the left coast soon. Abel - fine work and an interesting subject. It's a great companion piece to Too Powerful a Thing to Reject and it also makes me want to lay my eyes on that thesis someday.
 
...it also makes me want to lay my eyes on that thesis someday.

Well, you won't be able to read the thesis as it was written because quite a few things had to be removed for book publication. The largest chunk -some 30 pages- was what's usually called "the review of literature," where you have to review as critically as possible the previous literature, if any, about your subject (read trash those poor fuckers!) The conclusions and the introduction are also quite different. The "further research" section is gone as well. Basically, you remove all the crap and try to turn the thesis into a readable book.

The bad thing about removing "the review of literature" is that you won't be able to read all the wondrous things I had to say about the biographies or critical books such as Harrison's or Brewer's. Too bad about that ;)
 
Isn't there ANY way to get hold of the thesis as it was originally submitted?
In Germany there is a law, that PhD-thesises MUST be available for academical research.
 
Well, some sloppy, careless presses would publish the dissertation as is (I was contacted by a German press and a Dutch one who wanted to publish it in English), but I don't think that would be a wise move. I wrote the whole thing in barely 10 weeks, and it needs some tightening for sure.
 
Well, I didn't mean publishing a "sloppy" work for the public. I was talking about academic availability. In Germany you're not even allowed to apply for a PhD, if your thesis isn't available for that purpose (at some university-libraries for example).
 
...it also makes me want to lay my eyes on that thesis someday.
Ugh. Not to be a hillbilly prick, but the world doesn't need more dense, scholarly bullshit written about Bukowski. There's enough already. The value of Abel's work is the data he has collected. His opinion of the data is irrelevant. Burn the dissertation, publish the bibliography. That's not a criticism of Abel, it's a criticism of the form.

People don't read Bukowski's books for enlightenment or education. They read them for the same reason they read Stephen King, Danielle Steel or Harry Potter; entertainment. When you analyze entertainment, you tend to kill it.

What Abel or Harrison, Brewer, Fox or Obama think of Bukowski is about as important as what the guy who "reviewed" Women on his blog thinks. Ultimately you read the books and you either buy into the whole thing or you don't. Critics, critique and sleepy scholarly harrumph and blather be damned.

When we like something we look for validation that we aren't crazy or stupid for enjoying it. It's human nature. As a result we end up with ridiculous dog and pony shit like Bono and Sean Penn being interviewed about Bukowski. Because, you know, they are famous and maybe people will see them yammering and think, "Hmm, I love U2 records...maybe this Bukowski isn't so bad."

What was my point? I forgot amidst all that pontificating...

I hope Abel sells a lot of books. I bought the first two and I'll buy any others that poke their dirty little heads up out of the bankrupt and polluted Spanish soil.

FTW!
 
People don't read Bukowski's books for enlightenment or education. They read them for the same reason they read Stephen King, Danielle Steel or Harry Potter; entertainment.

For me personally, Bukowski is a lot more than just mere entertainment. I don't have the energy to expand on that right now thou. I'll be back.
 
Maybe "entertainment" was the wrong choice of words. Enjoyment? Recreation? What I meant was it is not something most people have to be force-fed because it's "good for them," and great literature.

If people want more dry, scholarly research for the purpose of general validation of Bukowski, fine. I just don't see the point. I don't care if some jerkoff in Australia considers him to be a "minor" poet or if the pasty jerkoffs that teach your children in college consider him worth of their respect, or if one more 17 year old kid "discovers" him. I don't care if his books gather dust or get remaindered at Barnes and Noble. None of that means anything. He's here. We're here. It is what it is.

I wasn't trying to be disagreeable. This is my stance on just about everything, so you could have seen it coming. I am predictable in that way. I can't detract from Abel's thesis or any of those critical books anyway. Nothing I say about it is going to persuade or dissuade anyone from reading them. I don't want to sway anyone's opinion. I just have to spout off now and then. You know, so you don't forget that I'm here.

Like I said, I bought Abel's books, and will continue to do so. I bought Harrison and Brewer too. And Fox. And some other shit that put me to sleep. But I understand the purpose of these things isn't to entertain me. If any of this comes across as an insult of Abel or his work, it isn't meant that way.
 
People don't read Bukowski's books for enlightenment or education. They read them for the same reason they read Stephen King, Danielle Steel or Harry Potter; entertainment.

mjp, you have to look beyond the shit and the piss. ;) p.s. This is the dumbest thing you've ever written.
 
Hey, if no one is dumb, how are you going to know you're smart?

See.

Don't be so quick to discard me, like one of Molly Young's day-old feminine napkins. Bastards.
 
Esart must've broke loose from her cage and trashed his Marley records and Robby the Robot pictures. Has to be something....please, go have a Kit-Kat.
 
Interestingly, I am usually completely uninterested in stuff about Buk, as the words are it. However, I spend much of my professional day reading dry, academic sciency stuff, so I'm well-versed in how to skim over the parts I don't want.

What I wasn't completely aware of was that there will be a distilled full-book version of the thesis, and that's more than enough for me.

God, you can't even compliment someone around here without catching shit; it's worse than being a travelling salesman in France trying to move a few units of Speed Stick.
 
full disclosure: I haven't read Abel's book yet. I believe it's in the mail. I'm looking forward to it.
 
If any of this comes across as an insult of Abel or his work...

None taken.

As I said a while ago, I'm happy if people perceive my efforts as both "entertaining" and "useful" (dulce et utile Horatio dixit way before our little brains thought to be the smartest ones in the history of mankind).

My book is full of facts, dates, places and names, and it's not critical per se -though it becomes critical when facts try to correct previous mistaken assumptions by, well, you know by whom. That's why Martin suggested my using short intros of a sort to each section talking about B's moods at the time, where he was living, etc. It's a good idea to make the book less fact-oriented and to avoid the impression there's too much data on each page. Problem is, it would become some sort of biography, and as I said a zillion times, that's really not up my alley.

So facts and data it is, however boring it might seem. And, yeah, my opinion is there, but it's kind of subtle, methinks. I'm not assessing the data I've collected, but my take is clear in the way I choose to arrange data or when I try to dispell myths. Actually, my "voice" is only evident in the intro and in the conclusions, but the main chapters are chronologically arranged and you won't notice my presence there that much. I just display the data and then I get the hell out of there.
 

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