Hello (1 Viewer)

M

Moose

I'm 33, male, married with child and live just outside Philly. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I wasn't aware of Bukowski until I heard an interview with Matt Dillon on NPR. I recently picked up Factotum and loved it. I bought Post Office before I was finished Factotum becuase I didn't want to risk someone else buying the copy at the bookstore, and I didn't want to have to wait for Amazon.

I don't know if my personal struggles with alcohol enhanced my appreciation of his writing, but I am hooked.
 
Moose said:
I'm almost ashamed to admit that I wasn't aware of Bukowski until I heard an interview with Matt Dillon on NPR.
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No shame in that. Every movie or documentary that comes out sends more people in search of his work.

Which is probably why Martin was always on him to write a novel...sales, recognition, sales, movies, sales, fame, sales. You get the idea. ;)
 
Hi,
It is funny. Those of us that have been around the forum a while are often told that we hate "newbies" people discovering Bukowski. We are told that we want to keep him to ourselves. I have not found that to be so. I have found that "I" am very, very happy when someone discovers Buk and wants to read the words that he wrote. What I hate are people that don't know anything about Buk (& don't care to) and want to only market him as a drunk old man with obscene catch phrases that they put on their bootleg t-shirts, lighters, and magnets. These are the same peole that put Ed Gein, Albert Fish and Charles Manson on shirts and make them trendy. Oooo... Look at that rebel with Ed Gein on his shirt...

Some people have called me elitist (which is laughable to anyone that knows me.) I live in a working class neighborhood and work in a very blue collar industry. My friends are more likely to be a plumber or carpenter than an English professor....

I guess that wanting your favorite writer to be appreciated for his WRITING and not his fucking and drinking is considered elitist....

Anyway. Here is to the greatest forum on the net. Cheers!

Bill
 
To follow up on bospress a bit, I hang around the forum reading and watching more than posting, and it seems the group is rather Bukowski-esque as a collective.

I mean bullshit artists and wannabes are run out here on a rail, but newbies and oddballs, the uninitiated, seem to be very welcome. Now, if you get too full of yourself, or preachy, or you go on a rant, this is the wrong place to be, because you *will* be brought back to reality in a hurry ;), but usually with a wink and a nudge in the end.

Tolerance is the word I suppose. Tolerance without pretense, without looking down on someone for being who they are. This sort of tolerance has always come through to me in Buk's writing and interviews, and it comes through in this Forum.

If you go to a whorehouse you're gonna get a whore...alright, so what...don't be surprised, you know. what were you expecting? Let's not spend a lot of energy talking about why you're a whore, or why you ought not to be a whore...remember anything you do with style can be an art...be grateful for that stylish whore (at least you won't owe her your life!) :)

Bobby D
 
Bobby D said:
Tolerance is the word I suppose. Tolerance without pretense, without looking down on someone for being who they are. This sort of tolerance has always come through to me in Buk's writing and interviews, and it comes through in this Forum.
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That's great to hear.
 
bospress.net said:
Some people have called me elitist. I live in a working class neighborhood and work in a very blue collar industry. My friends are more likely to be a plumber or carpenter than an English professor....
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if you had listed unskilled (or even semi-skilled) labourers as probable candidates - you would have risen, inestimably, in your public report card.
 
fame

I realize Buk never strove for fame but I'm still working on why he hasn't been recognized as the influential writer he was. I read a lot and the way I found out about him was googling authors and his name kept popping up as an influence. Who is this Bukowski I wondered, and I found out. But a lot of potential readers might not ever find him, why the hell is he so hidden?
 
deadhead said:
I realize Buk never strove for fame
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I think that he very much strove for fame. Otherwise, he could have written and sent the poems to no one, only having them show up after his death. The fact that he sent out SO much poetry to so many places and got all of the advantages of fame (money, women, etc), I cannot see how it can be said that he did not strive for it.

I mean there are many rock bands out there that say that they do it for the music, and could care less about the fame or money (olr women), but if given the chance would they give it all up to work a menial job during the day and play a bar at night? Probably not. It is nice to say, but almost always pure bullshit.



Bill
 
OK but I guess my real question is why is he not recognized? Not enough everyday people know who he is, he's a folk hero with no folk, at least here in the midwest. Is he better known in Cal?
 
Hi Deadhead,
In America, he is known as the guy who wrote "Barfly", apparently in Europe, he is known by many more people. That speaks more to the American interests than Bukowski, I think. In Europe, they value poets, I guess. In America, they do not. Take a character actor and put them up against the most famous living poet and the character actor will be recognized before the famous poet almost every time. I hope that it is different in Europe.

Bill
 
Hey Bill, it strikes me that Buk is an anti-hero like James Dean or Jack Kerouac. I love his poetry even though poetry is not my thing. What gets me off is the prose, and Buk should be as well-known as Hemmingway. I guess I'm just disappointed by how little people read anymore. Good to know some still do.
 
"Now, if you get too full of yourself, or preachy, or you go on a rant, this is the wrong place to be, because you *will* be brought back to reality in a hurry" - Bobby D

Hey, man, then that makes this the right place to be for this asshole, because I may be one occasionally but I don't want to be one permanently, so this Buk lamb welcomes the rod of you Bukowski shepherds.
And speaking of attitudes toward new Buk converts, I just wish I could find some in person, but they seem hard to come by, so I think it's great that I can compensate online with you long-distance buds.
 

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