I need help with a project on Bukowski (1 Viewer)

If anybody could please help me with a project on Bukowski. I have to be intervieweing him, and anwser in first person. I'm not sure exactly sure what questions to ask, or how to answer them. Here are a list of the questions I have so far:

1. What life experinces lead you to write poems such as; insert poems
2. Name an author or poet who inspired you to become a writer, or who encouraged your work.
3. Are there any historical events or movements such as the Civil War, Civil Rights Movement, etc., that has inspired your poems?

Please I need 10 questions and answers, and I'm not sure what to do! If you can help I'd greatly appreciate it, if not, advice is always helpful to. And thanks to all who took the time to read this!

~soulsoldier aka Jimmy
 
Bukowski was certainly not inspired by the Civil War or the Civil Rights Movement. History meant nothing to him. He knew nothing and cared less about the Civil War and laughed at the Civil Rights Movement, thinking it a worthless cause for hippies, "leftists" and morons who talked big but lived with their mothers at the age of 42 in the basement.

Buk was at "war all the time" just by having to get through the day.

His admired writers were Fante, Hamsun, Hem and Celine. He also liked Pound and spoke well, at times, of Jeffers, Steve Richmond, Harold Norse, etc. Of course, he later shat upon most of the writers he knew, except for John Thomas. He had a particular revulsion for Jory Sherman, accusing him of writing formulaic cowboy stories rather than real literature.

Good luck and keep up your reading!
 
i think he was conflicted about sherman... sometimes he praises him (to him and to others), and other times, he rags on him.

are there passages in his letters in which he explicitly denounces supporters of the civil rights movement? not the radical lefties or PC police (which he talks about a lot), but the actual civil rights movement. i'm curious.
 
He knew nothing and cared less about the Civil War and laughed at the Civil Rights Movement, thinking it a worthless cause for hippies, "leftists" and morons who talked big but lived with their mothers at the age of 42 in the basement.
Please explain your assertion and back it up with evidence and reasoned arguments.

If you have firsthand knowledge, identify yourself.
 
Well, he condemned people who marched for "causes" and he thought that the anti-war movement was bogus and conformist because in the 60s everyone of a certain age was anti-war whereas he, Bukowski, was against war when it was unpopular and dangerous to be so (WWII).

He didn't think much of Francis and her "chirping" friends and he mocked Blazek for caring about prisoners' rights.

I don't know off-hand where he writes this but BUK never participated in any such "group" activities.

To him it was just crybaby handholding.

He also hated writers' workshops.

I'll browse through his letters and I'll see what I can come up with.

Please explain your assertion and back it up with evidence and reasoned arguments.

If you have firsthand knowledge, identify yourself.


***


Ok. Give me some time since I'm rather lazy and I'll get back to you.

Have a nice day!
 
Thank you everybody for your useful comments. You helped me understand Bukowski a little better. I was just using the Civil War as an example, I figured he wouldn't really base his poems on historical events.

If anybody could help me again by suggesting any questions I can use for an interview, that would be great! I have 7, and I need 10.

And, I was wondering if anybody could list some of their all time favorite poems by Bukowski, or any that you think are his best work.

Thanks again, and I really appreciate it!

~Jimmy
 
Jimmy if you do a little work on your own rather than harvest ideas from this group (as knowledgabl as they may be) you may find this project leads you to places you never considered.
Look at it thsi way imagine walking down the street finding a used record store (OK CD) and then leafing through the stuff to hopefully find somethng valuble to YOU. Sure its a waste of time but what a glorious waste of time-like reading Bukowski-wish I had found him at 15
 
Okay, first of all, I am not a he, but a she. And yes I have read some of Bukowski's work, I own, Bone Palace Ballet-New Poems.

And I'm not expecting anybody to do the work for me, I was just asking for your advice. You people seem like huge fans of Bukowski, and I only have just started learning about him.

If he hasn't, I'd like to meet the teacher who assigned Bukowski to him. Ha.
And if that was intended as an insult to my teacher, I am highly offended. My teacher is a great teacher, and he didn't assign us the poet, we drew names out of a hat.
 
And, I was wondering if anybody could list some of their all time favorite poems by Bukowski, or any that you think are his best work.

Here's what many will consider as being among his best poems:

The bluebird - The tragedy of the leaves - Something for the touts, the nuns, the grocery clerks and you..., Old man dead in a room, Style, Another academy, The genius of the crowd, Dinosauria,we, We ain't got no money, honey, but we got rain...

Of course there's many more, but I hope these will do for your "interview". Good luck!...
 
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i think it's absolutely awesome that a teacher is bringing Buk into the classroom. how often do you hear of that happening? i wish my english teacher had handed me some Buk during my teenage years.

i hope this young lady hasn't been scared off from this site.
 
I think he was more marvelling at a teacher assigning Bukowski than insulting him... it wouldn't really make sense for anyone here to mock a teacher that assigns Bukowski.
 
Jimmy, I wasn't trying to insult you, but looking at your first post it really seems like you have little or no knowledge of your subject.

In addition to reading some of his poems and stories, my suggestion would be that you search for Bukowski on youtube and check out some of the interview footage from "The Bukowski Tapes" or go rent "Born Into This" to get an idea of what the man was like, since just reading a handful of poems or stories alone isn't likely to help you much.

Good luck.
 
If anybody could please help me with a project on Bukowski. I have to be intervieweing him, and anwser in first person. I'm not sure exactly sure what questions to ask, or how to answer them. Here are a list of the questions I have so far:

1. What life experinces lead you to write poems such as; insert poems
2. Name an author or poet who inspired you to become a writer, or who encouraged your work.
3. Are there any historical events or movements such as the Civil War, Civil Rights Movement, etc., that has inspired your poems?

~soulsoldier aka Jimmy

In The Roominghouse Madrigals there is the poem "On Seeing An Old Civil War Painting..." and "The Simplicity of Everything in Viet Nam".

Bukowski knew of The Depression, the Second World War, The Wobblies (see High Times interview), international events, he was of his times, not apart from them. That he didn't become inspired as others did to make their art topical and political and of the moment very often makes him separate and in many ways more interesting.

Other poems that come to mind (without titles) were the one about the Buddhist monk who set himself on fire protesting the Vietnam war and "the big bastard with the sword". Seems like Bukowski picked up the newspaper and magazines like others, watched t.v., got calls from people with all sorts of opinions and causes and he filtered all that through whatever else (horses, women, work, etc.) he was dealing with at the time.

Like most of us Bukowski noticed the world is constantly going to shit, might even end while we're asleep. All I/we want to know is if it's over do I/we have to go to work tomorrow?

Of course nobody might agree with my view of Bukowski. For a guy who everyone wants to simplify and says he's this or that he was one really complex person and will contradict most pigeonholes anyone tries to put him in. That is one thing that shows up in his writing constantly.
 
As far as civil war is concerned, bukowski talks quite often of the spanish civil war(~1936-39), like many other great writers.
Maybe a bit of a homage to hemingway(and orwell), but it really is a very interesting subject.
Have a look at it.
 
Thank you so much to all of you for helping me. I'll take all of your advice and hopefully make a great paper and interview on Bukowski. Can't thank you guys enough!!
 

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