Spreading the Bukowski (1 Viewer)

Charlie

Charlie

Founding member
I've been passing his books around to my friends and there's one guy thinks Buk's a genius, a girl who isn't impressed by his style but moderately enjoys him, and then there are two other guys who greatly enjoyed Buk. One guy though didn't enjoy his poetry.

Everybody seems to be really confused by his poems that seem like they should be prose. I mean, just read it for christ sakes, who cares about form?

Have you managed to get anyone else into Bukowski?
 
Over the years, I have turned many people on to him. When I owned paperbacks, I lent them out freely. While I have one female friend who appreciates him, I must say that most have thought him to be a real misogynist and couldn't get beyond that to appreciate the humor. For me and the male friends I have turned on to him, it's the humor and desperation that grabs. I still remember fondly a tribute dinner I gave on the occasion of his death for my Buk friends at which we all read our "misogynistic" tribute poems. Even my female friend stepped up to the plate. Regarding the prose style of the poems, I believe that has made his poetry much more accessible and appreciated by those who don't consider themselves poetry lovers.
 
I've often bought up used copies of Bukowski to pass around, but honestly, most of the people I know who are interested were already interested. I don't think I have many converts notched onto my belt. Unless you count those from the site, which has hopefully opened a few eyes over the years.
 
I was lent a copy of 'Hot Water Music' years ago and that was it - hooked. I'd actually come across Buk via a play about him staged at the 'Old Red Lion' in Islington, (London). Not a bad play actually, the name escapes me though, took my (then) girlfriend.

Read most of Buk's work since, have the 'Hostage' CD, which is really rather good. 'Bukowski Reads His Poetry' is also a good recording.


Buk seems to divide people down the middle, they either love his work, or (more often) think it's drivel.

I have never met a woman who likes his stuff though (maybe I haven't looked hard enough..)

Mo
 
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I think I know more women who like Bukowski than I do men (okay, not counting this forum, which is so far, predominantly male...at least I think it is, anyway...hard to tell since we're just going by usernames).

For a lot of reasons I won't go into here, my girlfriend never attended school very regularly, but taught herself to read using Dr. Suess and Bukowski books. As you can imagine, he holds a very special place in her life.

If that isn't testament to his uncommon ability to "lay down the clear, simple line," I don't know what is.
 
every Bukowski book I've had, I've lent to my friend. He hasnt bought one single buk book but he loves em. for some reason though...he never became obsessed like me. go figure.
I tried to get my girlfriend to read him...and she watched the trailor to born into this and an argument erupted. she said she didnt respect him as a person because he was a womanizer or something like that. I tried to explain to her that he treated men worse but it was no good. I even went so far as to say...her opinion wasnt valid because aside from a few poems i made her read and the born into this trailor, she really is ignorant on the subject. i ended up apologizing for that but I guess it's true what they say, ya cant win em all.
 
HenryChinaski said:
I tried to explain to her that he treated men worse but it was no good. I even went so far as to say...her opinion wasnt valid because aside from a few poems i made her read and the born into this trailor, she really is ignorant on the subject. i ended up apologizing for that but I guess it's true what they say, ya cant win em all.
Click to expand...

It actually quotes him in the trailer as saying he treats men worse than women.

and by the way, here's some advice: let her win the arguments.. it'll be worth it in the long run.
 
oh i know...i've been dealing with the opposite sex for quite a while and i'd like to think the system i got going is workin alright.

im pretty stubborn though when it comes to things like buk
 
bravo for this whole fucking thing. i was walking around thinking how funny this whole thing is. bukowski is a great man. i was talking with my ex one time while we were together and i was saying something like well, i don't know, fuck, my favorite writer is an alcoholic womanizer and bla bla and she said oh, well, we'll get you some new books. she wasn't much of a reader though. thankfully, maybe. but i, like the other fellow, had never seen bukowski in action. this stuff is wonderful. the guy was a bull in a sense. a great big fucking hulking literary snatch tonguing freak. anyway, why in the hell should she have to like bukowski anyway, let her read bee dreams by ann margaret. fuck it.
 
what do you guys, gals do for work? i think this an ok question, pertinent, what with the factotum release. i've never really been in a thread before, or a forum. how do you get the money to collect this stuff? i would love to see some early poems typed into the line. say from the first chapbooks. i can probably send you some money but it won't be much. is that a big thing, if the stuff is all typed into the internet? then it decreases in value? fuck that. death in a frying firing squadron of feelers. i have the internet. cry light blue tears for your mothers boys. my house ate me up. eat the poops of some shrimp. the wallpaper has become unglued. some laugher stole my money. i miss the evil one eye. but really i do not at all. cranberry ass squadrons.
 
jack nasty said:
i would love to see some early poems typed into the line. say from the first chapbooks. is that a big thing, if the stuff is all typed into the internet?
Click to expand...
It's a big thing in some ways, yeah. You have to have permission to publish the work, so unless you have those permissions, putting someone's work up on the internet can run afoul of copyright laws.

So you can say, "fuck that," and stand at the bow of your pirate ship laughing and waving your sword, but a publisher or other copyright holder can come along and casually toss a few cannonballs your way without even breaking a sweat, and sink your whole ship. If you're low profile you can usually get away with it. But if the site grows at all and becomes known, you have to play by the rules. You know. For the most part. :rolleyes:

Almost everything from the early books was reprinted in the early Black Sparrow books. And cirerita has posted copies of a lot of the things that weren't collected by BS in the Unpublished and Uncollected forum.
 
i've only managed to get one friend to read Buk and now he's hooked. i actually got him to do an English paper on him. He either had to do a novel or a poem book and since i didn't have any novels with me at my house he took Love Is a Dog from Hell.
 
I'll never forget
Riding on Amtrack
From the California desert to Madison Square Gardens....
I was reading Love Is A Dog From Hell
(a super-beat-up 17th+ printing, cover taped-up edition)
And a girl I didn't know laughed at the cover and asked about it.
Barstow Cali, I think, and I started to read from it aloud,
And by God, by the time we got to Chicago,
I bet there was almost 10 of us at this time,
Laughing and passing the book around, taking turns reading.
We shared a Chicago deep dish pizza and a pitcher (or 2, 3) of cheap beer,
And I'll never forget it,
And it is certainly my most cherished copy.
 
A friend of mine (one with aspirations of attending Kenyon[sic?]) has a curious system of introducing me to authors by suggesting books he hasn't read by authors he likes. My first and only Vonnegut is Slaughterhouse-Five, and was read by his suggestion. I read Post Office first per his suggestion and just finished Hot Water Music. I'm trying to get my copy to a lady friend I have on the third floor of my dorm who is in love with the band of the same name.

BTW any suggestions on the next book I ought to read if I were so inclined?
 

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