January 21st - Bukowski completes Post Office
- Thread starter Ponder
- Start date
Bukfan
"The law is wrong; I am right"
So it looks like he was still employed at Dec. 27, whether he was having his Christmas vacation or not. He certainly seems to have been drinking from about Christmas and till after New Year. The Jan. 7 date, was probably the day he formally ended his employment.
Thanks, cirerita...
Thanks, cirerita...
This is obviously the case here.
Too many contradicting dates given.
The pre-med-student he mentions comes in Post-Office AFTER he quit. But he IS THERE. It's all about the mixture of fact and fiction.
My guess is, that the "21-days" go back to something like the "one and a half week"-statement, which then became "10 days". Maybe he said something like "I've written that novel in (more or less) 3 weeks." which then ended up as ecactly 21-days in legend.
Also the mix of talking about being thrown out / forced to quit / leaving for his own good due to the 100.-deal - it isn't always consitent. But the picture as a whole looks right, I think.
ps:
in a letter to Weissner, dated mid-Nov 1969 he says: "[...] at the end of Nov. I am going to resign my job at the p.o. [...] so, after Dec. one, I will be on my own, and this typewriter will be a machine gun [...]"
('Screams', BSP, softcover, page 353)
mjp
Founding member
Ha ha - of course. I'm sure a couple more dates will turn up eventually.
I have a request in for his complete post office personnel records, so if I ever get those, maybe the real answer will be there. Same with his military records (including psychiatric evaluation? One can only hope), but the requests have been pending forever. A lot of those federal government records were being moved to a new storage facility when I requested them.
As to when he finished the manuscript, that might be a little more slippery to pin down (at least we know for sure that it's February now, and not late January). But it doesn't really matter. He wrote it quickly, that was the point.
I'm reading Post Office for the first time and I'm about 2/3 of the way into the book now.
Pretty good so far. It has a slightly less frantic feel to Factotum, which I probably prefer a little more at the moment but it still has that same readibility, humour and flow to it that makes it a pacey and enjoyable read. I don't know why but I have a feeling that I am gonna prefer this to Factotum eventually. Just a hunch. It has a certain quality and mood to it that I can imagine will prompt me to come back to it again and again.....arghh...I don't know what I'm rabbling on about!
Anyway the parts that have made me laugh the most include the section where Chinaski is looking after Joyce's pet birds....and also Chinaski's rant about ASSHOLES and how everthing has them (even trees!?) hahaha, I was fighting back the laughter as I was reading that on the train:D
Pretty good so far. It has a slightly less frantic feel to Factotum, which I probably prefer a little more at the moment but it still has that same readibility, humour and flow to it that makes it a pacey and enjoyable read. I don't know why but I have a feeling that I am gonna prefer this to Factotum eventually. Just a hunch. It has a certain quality and mood to it that I can imagine will prompt me to come back to it again and again.....arghh...I don't know what I'm rabbling on about!
Anyway the parts that have made me laugh the most include the section where Chinaski is looking after Joyce's pet birds....and also Chinaski's rant about ASSHOLES and how everthing has them (even trees!?) hahaha, I was fighting back the laughter as I was reading that on the train:D
What I like about 'Post Office' so much more than 'Factotum' is:
'FACTOTUM' is merely a lose combination of stories, many of them even used before as short-stories or columns. It's not a novel, it's just putting episodes together. Nothing against episodes or short-stories, but then, don't call it a novel, just because a novel sells better.
I feel he was loveless for that book, didn't feel the inner urge to write that.
While 'POST OFFICE' shows that urge all over.
Like 'Fac' it's funny as hell, but when it comes to the 'serious' parts it beats 'Fac' by miles.
plus it has plot and developement. Not that I'm one of those asses who absolutely need 'developement' in a story. 'Barfly' doesn't have it and I love it. But you get my point I guess ...
I know what you mean now. I should have waited till the end before I formed an opinion!
Anyway I finished Post Office on the train today and I must say the ending left me feeling quite empty. I don't mean that in a negative way though it's just I guess it makes the reality of life hit home which is you work and work and slog through all the crap, thinking your gonna suss it all out one day and find real happiness, but once you think you've got it you realize that eternal happiness doesn't exist....it's just something that constantly comes and goes at times when you'd least expect it...which is why you gotta savour it when you've got it. I'm speaking for myself here though, this is just what I felt at the end. I think Bukowski also summed this up beautifully in his poem. 'The Laughing Heart'
Something about the book already makes me wanna read it again already. Behind all the self-assured nihilistic attitudes, vague optimism and humour there is an underlying sadness to it which I don't remember feeling from in Factotum. But to be honest I need to re-read Factotum again. It was my first Buk book and I was reading while traveling around Europe for a month last year, so my memory isn't so vivid.
Anyway I finished Post Office on the train today and I must say the ending left me feeling quite empty. I don't mean that in a negative way though it's just I guess it makes the reality of life hit home which is you work and work and slog through all the crap, thinking your gonna suss it all out one day and find real happiness, but once you think you've got it you realize that eternal happiness doesn't exist....it's just something that constantly comes and goes at times when you'd least expect it...which is why you gotta savour it when you've got it. I'm speaking for myself here though, this is just what I felt at the end. I think Bukowski also summed this up beautifully in his poem. 'The Laughing Heart'
Something about the book already makes me wanna read it again already. Behind all the self-assured nihilistic attitudes, vague optimism and humour there is an underlying sadness to it which I don't remember feeling from in Factotum. But to be honest I need to re-read Factotum again. It was my first Buk book and I was reading while traveling around Europe for a month last year, so my memory isn't so vivid.