John Fante: The Man Who Made Bukowski (1 Viewer)

mjp

Founding member
John Fante: The Man Who Made Bukowski

It seems obvious that Fante influenced Bukowski, but it's always seemed odd to me that there was a long stretch - 15 years, give or take - after Bukowski read Ask The Dust where he didn't really put what he said he loved about Fante's writing into practice:

"The lines rolled easily across the page, there was a flow. Each line had its own energy and was followed by another like it. The very substance of each line gave the page a form, a feeling of something carved into it. And here, at last, was a man who was not afraid of emotion. The humor and the pain were intermixed with a superb simplicity."

You can look at that and say, 'Well that describes Bukowski's work, so obviously Fante's influence made him the kind of writer he was,' but that doesn't explain the decade and a half of Bukowski's more formal, for lack of a better word, writing. He certainly didn't write with "a superb simplicity" for many years after reading Ask The Dust.
 
I think this "The Man Who Made Bukowski" is simplifying and misleading. It would be more accurate to say he was one important influence out of a handful, like Hemingway, Celine, Hamsun, Sherwood Anderson, Camus, D.H. Lawrence. Sure Bukowski praised the shit out of him but compared to the other guys Fante was still alive and completely forgotten at the time.

To say: "I was very much influenced by Hemingway" was not that spectacular, because who wasn't. But this unknown writer he discovered himself plowing through the library, that's something.
 
Hey, gents thanks for sharing the article I posted. I did not want to undermine either author as they are both heroes of mine.

I did hope though to get more people to discover Fante, who is but a shadow to the success of Bukowski. Hence the title.

There's no doubt in my mind Bukowski would have been a great writer regardless of whether he found Fante.

That said I think you can see Fante's influence in so much of Bukowski's work more than any single author mentioned.

Fante himself was deeply influenced Hamsun, Camus, Sherwood Anderson and Nietzsche. So it could go on forever who made who.

At the end of the day each author stands by his own work. So please don't take the title too seriously. It was just to hook Bukowski fans to read it. :)
 
Hi Zain and welcome.

We're grouchy here. I actually found Bukowski through his introduction to Fante. I didn't know who Fante was either, at the time. Ah, my youth.
 
Haha! I'd expect nothing less. Discovered him the same way and read all his books soon after.

I imagine Fante is better known in certain circles like LA. But in the UK I have yet to meet someone who's heard the name it's quite tragic. :(
 
in the UK I have yet to meet someone who's heard the name
same here in Germany.
Even though he's published and does have a small group of fans, he isn't publicly known.

Last year (2016) two new books came out here:
'The Wine of Youth' (augmented edition of 'Dago Red') was published by MARO, who's well known for importing Bukowski to Germany in the early 70s.
and:
'1933 was a Bad Year' just recently published by aufbau/Blumenbar.
 
Wine and 1933.JPG
 
Those are great covers! Seems like they put a great deal of effort into translating them correctly. Im glad. :)

Quote from - The Wine of Forever

the writing of some
men
is like a vast bridge
that carries you
over
the many things
that claw and tear.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top