Why the desire for Bukowski to be a hero ? Is there a need always to suckle from some deity; religious, literary, or otherwise? Cant it just be their work – what they do - talented and extraordinary as it is? Given Bukowski’s copious output and longevity there is conflicting material ( who stays consistent over a lifetime?) on how he felt about writers being so elevated. Yes he admired other writers, however he also stated in The Captain Is Out To Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over The Ship “few writers like other writers work...” “I don’t even like to talk to writers, look at them, or worse, listen to them”. Not a lot of hero worship there . In Gothic and etc. he recounts spurning a student keen to hoist him up on a pedestal, which I guess for me is a large part of why I like him; the lack of pretension about what art/literature is and significantly; what it isn’t.
Maybe I'm just hostile to hero worship, given that there is always someone ready and willing to knock your hero of their perch by revealing that actually, when they were 12 yrs old they shoved their granny off the bus ( minor injuries only) and now spend their weekends stealing underwear from washing lines... fab.