pedro juan gutierrez (1 Viewer)

Angus

Founding member
hi,

i just thought of recommending this great cuban writer. he has a collection of short stories that is outrageously good called (in spanish) "trilogia sucia de la habana", but i'm sure he was already translated to english, since he is selling a lot of books around the world.

why am i posting this? well, some call him the "cuban bukowski", that's why.

i don't want to commit a heresy here, but i think they play in the same league, and i'm not talking about content, but quality & fun, really.

cheers, angus
 
As a writer, being compared to Bukowski is probably a blessing and a curse. A lot of people would see the association and think, "Okay, I can skip that!" Probably more than would read someone because of the comparison.

But the thing I always find kind of funny when you hear someone is "the new Bukowski," or "more hard core than Bukowski," is when you look at the pictures they put on their books -- they are always guzzling a beer, or looking half dead in an alley somewhere.

Bukowski's greatest sin may have been building up the myth that he did, and creating so many pretenders attempting to actually live it.
 
he's the real thing

hey mjp,

he's not a "pretender", this guy is original.

the fact that some critics compare him to buk has nothing to do with his quality. actually, he doesn't like this, but i guess it helps him sell more books.
 
For me, what matters most in a writer is two things:

1) The quality of his/her writing
2) The quality of his/her story

Maybe its because its translated, but the words just didn't feel...I don't know, "electric." On the other hand, there is that excerpt from Ellroy's "The Cold Six Thousand" near the bottom of the page and I'll be goddamned if that isn't even more electric than Bukowski!

(in retrospect I realize that last thing about Ellroy made no sense. I forgot that I found the link to this website on my own.)
 

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