Ta gueule, Bukowski! (1 Viewer)

Ambreen

Sordide Sentimental
That's the first part of the title of a book which has just been released here. The complete title is:

get.aspx


(Shut up, Bukowski! Dictionary of literary insults).

This dictionary is actually a compilation of nasty remarks writers made on each others.

For the French readers, here's the page devoted to Bukowski and refering to the Apostrophe episode (I've directly found its content on the web!):


BUKOWSKI (Charles) (1920-1994), écrivain américain.

Bukowski, ta gueule !... Bukowski, je vais te foutre mon poing sur la gueule !...(Bukowski, shut up! Bukowski, I'm going to punch you in the face!)

François Cavanna
" Apostrophes ", Antenne 2, 22 septembre 1978.

Le 22 septembre 1978, Bukowski est invité à l'émission télévisée " Apostrophes " par Bernard Pivot. Sur le plateau, il boit, vide au goulot une bouteille de Sancerre ; les images, fréquemment rediffusées, sont bien connues. Comme il marmonne et empêche les autres invités de s'exprimer, il se fait injurier par Cavana dans les termes que nous avons reproduits supra. On l'invite à se retirer, il se léve, titube et sort du champ de la caméra sur un commentaire goguenard de Pivot. Ce dernier prétend alors effrontément que Bukowski a apporté lui-même ses bouteilles, mais l'écrivain, sa compagne, et le fait même que Cavanna boive le même vin sur le plateau, le démentent. Les bruits les plus fantaisistes vont courir à la suite de cet incident : Bukowski aurait vomi en direct, il se serait uriné dessus, et le journal " Détective ", connu pour le sérieux de ses investigations, affirme qu'il aurait violé Catherine Paysan, également invitée (et parfaitement inviolable, même ivre)... Dans un entretien accordé en 1986 à Jean-François Duval, Charles Bukowski s'explique :
" Quand nous sommes arrivés, on m'a emmené dans la salle de maquillage et on s'est mis à m'appliquer de la poudre sur le visage, ce qui était parfaitement inutile à cause de la graisse et des cicatrices qu'il y avait dessus. Puis Linda et moi nous sommes assis en attendant le début de l'émission. J'ai attaqué l'une des deux bouteilles qui m'attendaient là. " Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! Je me fous toujours dans des situations pas possibles. Mais quelle coterie de snobs ! C'était vraiment trop pour moi. Vraiment trop de snobisme littéraire. Je ne supporte pas ça. J'aurais dû le savoir. J'avais pensé que la barriére des langues rendrait peut-être les choses plus faciles. Mais non, c'était tellement guindé. Les questions étaient littéraires, raffinées. Il n'y avait pas d'air, c'était irrespirable. Et vous ne pouviez ressentir aucune bonté, pas la moindre parcelle de bonté. Il y avait seulement des gens assis en rond en train de parler de leurs bouquins ! C'était horrible... Je suis devenu dingue. "
C'est un scandale énorme. Et une publicité fantastique : en quelques minutes, Charles Bukowski s'est fait un nom en France. Dans une lettre à Hank Malone, un an aprés l'incident, Bukowski écrivait :
" Non, je n'ai pas vomi à la télévision nationale en France. Je me suis juste salement saoulé, ai dit deux ou trois trucs et suis parti... En fait c'était un coup de chance. Tous les journaux en France en ont donné un bon compte-rendu sauf un. Ça c'est bien passé avec les gens de la rue. Sommes allés à Nice le lendemain, on était assis en terrasse avec Linda en train de se noircir et six serveurs français nous ont fait signe, puis se sont mis en ligne, bien droits, et se sont inclinés. "

Pierre Chalmin, Dictionnaire des Injures littéraires, L'Editeur, 2010.


Nothing new. I have just noticed a line the author wrote about the only female writer who was invited (Catherine Paysan): he considered her as "unrapable", even by a drunken man (while reporting on some rumours spread by a tabloid, according to which Buk puked, pissed on himself and raped the said female writer); how bitchy!
 
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It's a fat and lazy person, mostly a man (I have never heard it used for women). I like this word very much and gladly use it to tease some of my male friends. But of course, Goethe was everything but a patapouf!
 
I have looked in a dictionary for the etymology of patapouf and have found nothing to confirm your supposition. Actually, the definition strictly speaking is "a fat person" but the use of the word is extended to lazy persons.
 
a pouf is an ottoman. I would assume that an ottoman sits still. Pata is an insult.
I would imagine a large 'patate eater' would not move around much. :)
In Canada it is a very old expression. Something my mother said.
 
Very neat. I'm amazed that the Bukowski insult has reached such a status in France that it should used as a title of a book on literary insults. I didn't think Buk was that popular in France but what do I know? Maybe that appearance on Apostrophe was so scandalous it catapulted him into the top 10 -- with a bottle!
 
I'm the maestro of all patapoufs.
Ask around.

The birth of Purple Glow Press - Ponder: I'm thinkin' Patapouf Glow Press has a nice ring to it. Black Swan: I'm partial to purple and think Purple Glow Press is much better. Ponder: Yeah, well, I'm just trying to keep it real - no bullshit..okay - let's make it Patapouf. Black Swan: no, no, NO! Look! It's Purple or nothing, got it?! Ponder:*yawn* Okay, jeez, I'm too patapoufy to argue, Purple it is.
 
Very neat. I'm amazed that the Bukowski insult has reached such a status in France that it should used as a title of a book on literary insults. I didn't think Buk was that popular in France but what do I know? Maybe that appearance on Apostrophe was so scandalous it catapulted him into the top 10 -- with a bottle!

The insult in itself hasn't reached any particular status (I think the author chose it as a title because it was probably the most direct one he found), that's the whole Bukowski appearance in Apostrophe that is considered as a cult episode. I remember that when I was a kid, it was shown and re-shown in many TV shows.
 
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I was kind of disappointed when I first watched Bukowskis appearance in Apostrophe.

After reading so much about it I really expected him to roar around there and raise hell. But, really, what is he doing? He is sitting very uncomfortable in a group of stiff turds, has problems with his ear-plug and the translation, mumbles something you can't really understand and finally gets out of his chair like an arthritic 80 year old and is led out of the room like one. The funniest thing about the whole incident is the head-touching with the bald old guy and how pissed and stiff-turdy everybody is about the whole thing. The forced false laughter of the younger guy with the strange beard is also something to remember.
 
The insult in itself hasn't reached any particular status (I think the author chose it as a title because it was probably the most direct one he found), that's the whole Bukowski appearance in Apostrophe that is considered as a cult episode. I remember that when I was a kid, it was shown and re-shown in many TV shows.
I read somewhere that Bukowski's book sales in France rose as a result of this appearance. There's no such thing as bad publicity, etc. Maybe like the Sex Pistols infamous live appearance on the Bill Grundy Show on the BBC where they dropped the f-bomb.

I was kind of disappointed when I first watched Bukowskis appearance in Apostrophe.
Yes, nothing dramatic. But Bukowski must have seemed like a breath of fresh air in that context of that stuffy show. He articulated his vision pretty well I thought and focused on the unvarnished reality of existence removed from any intellectual pretension. And he probably scored some points for novelty for being so drunk and disheveled.
 
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The birth of Purple Glow Press - Ponder: I'm thinkin' Patapouf Glow Press has a nice ring to it. Black Swan: I'm partial to purple and think Purple Glow Press is much better. Ponder: Yeah, well, I'm just trying to keep it real - no bullshit..okay - let's make it Patapouf. Black Swan: no, no, NO! Look! It's Purple or nothing, got it?! Ponder:*yawn* Okay, jeez, I'm too patapoufy to argue, Purple it is.

Haven't you read the interview with us in the German Yearbook?

http://www.bukowski-shop.de/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=32&products_id=128
 

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