The senseless, tragic rape of Charles Bukowski’s ghost by John Martin’s Black Sparrow Press
- Thread starter mjp
- Start date
- Tags posthumous editing issues
It would be a violation of copyright.
Having said that, you may notice that Martin no longer edits the new collections from Ecco, Abel Debritto does. That is due to Linda Bukowski being made aware of the changes that we're talking about. She was unhappy to learn about it, and you won't ever see another collection edited by Martin.
Also, someone has taken it upon themselves to do collections based on the manuscripts. You can find links to those in the timeline. They're actually quite well done and they're also inexpensive, so you might want to check those out.
Having said that, you may notice that Martin no longer edits the new collections from Ecco, Abel Debritto does. That is due to Linda Bukowski being made aware of the changes that we're talking about. She was unhappy to learn about it, and you won't ever see another collection edited by Martin.
Also, someone has taken it upon themselves to do collections based on the manuscripts. You can find links to those in the timeline. They're actually quite well done and they're also inexpensive, so you might want to check those out.
Right on, MJP!
That is great news about Linda finding out and actually giving a damn and putting a stop to Martin's mentally ill bullshit actions. You were no doubt instrumental in sounding the alarm and hopefully it will lead eventually to new editions restored to their unmolested original contents. Thank you for making a stink about it. Rape was an appropriate word for what Martin did---I mean, really, if you think about it, he did the equivalent of a Cosby-Rape, y'know? Waiting until Buk was physically incapable of defending his body of work against Martin's heinous assaults...whatta fucken dick.
I will check out that link. Cheers.
That is great news about Linda finding out and actually giving a damn and putting a stop to Martin's mentally ill bullshit actions. You were no doubt instrumental in sounding the alarm and hopefully it will lead eventually to new editions restored to their unmolested original contents. Thank you for making a stink about it. Rape was an appropriate word for what Martin did---I mean, really, if you think about it, he did the equivalent of a Cosby-Rape, y'know? Waiting until Buk was physically incapable of defending his body of work against Martin's heinous assaults...whatta fucken dick.
I will check out that link. Cheers.
In all fairness, a few people here have brought up changes, it isn't just me, and we've been talking about them since 2006. We started doing side by side comparisons in 2010.
There's also this: http://bukowski.net/comparisons/ There are only 25 or so there, but there could be hundreds.
There's also this: http://bukowski.net/comparisons/ There are only 25 or so there, but there could be hundreds.
From Howard Sounes, Locked in the Arms of a Crazy Life (pages 223-224):
The method of editing The Last Night of the Earth Poems was the same as with all the other books published by Black Sparrow. He gave John Martin carte blanche to choose what he wanted to publish. “He didn’t even know what I was going to put in and then he never went back to look at his early work so he didn’t what I left out. He didn’t care,” says John Martin…
The method of editing The Last Night of the Earth Poems was the same as with all the other books published by Black Sparrow. He gave John Martin carte blanche to choose what he wanted to publish. “He didn’t even know what I was going to put in and then he never went back to look at his early work so he didn’t what I left out. He didn’t care,” says John Martin…
So I finally finished an article on John Martin’s unforgivably sloppy editing of Bukowski’s posthumous poetry collections. One national paper showed interest in the article, but didn’t take it in the end. So it finally ended up in the student mag for the department of literature at the University of Bergen. (http://prosopopeia.no/index.html) That’s actually a good thing. Many of Norway’s university teachers will read it and many of the students at that department as well, students that will end up working in the major publishing houses and high schools here in Norway. So anyway, I hope the article will make Bukowski readers in Norway wary of the butchered books.
In the article, I concentrate on being as objective as possible. I use the poem “Escape” as an example of JM’s sloppy editing. This poem was chosen because it appeared in Prism International, a mag that some readers in Norway may know and that is easy to check up.
Funny thing: One of the editors commenting on the article was named Jon Martin. That’s his first name. But still, kind of spooky. He also is a former student of mine (in high school). So now he got his revenge getting to correct/edit my writing. So it goes. ;-)
There are a lot of references to BUKOWSKI.NET in the article, so hopefully you might be getting some look ups from Norway in the weeks to come MJP.
I also give a cryptic hint to the bootlegs in the article. Those are beautiful books!
If anyone wants to read the article in Norwegian just say the word and I’ll e-mail it to you or something like that…
PS: I can translate the title for you. It goes something like this: "Bukowski's posthumous poetry collections are not what you think they are."
In the article, I concentrate on being as objective as possible. I use the poem “Escape” as an example of JM’s sloppy editing. This poem was chosen because it appeared in Prism International, a mag that some readers in Norway may know and that is easy to check up.
Funny thing: One of the editors commenting on the article was named Jon Martin. That’s his first name. But still, kind of spooky. He also is a former student of mine (in high school). So now he got his revenge getting to correct/edit my writing. So it goes. ;-)
There are a lot of references to BUKOWSKI.NET in the article, so hopefully you might be getting some look ups from Norway in the weeks to come MJP.
I also give a cryptic hint to the bootlegs in the article. Those are beautiful books!
If anyone wants to read the article in Norwegian just say the word and I’ll e-mail it to you or something like that…
PS: I can translate the title for you. It goes something like this: "Bukowski's posthumous poetry collections are not what you think they are."
I get quite a few views on my website pages about the Martin "editing". Most from Germany and the rest mainly from N. America and Europe. I think the word is getting out there, slowly. Abel's new books are also - delicately - suggesting the posthumous editions are not what they should be and as these enter libraries and circulation that will make clear what the problems have been.
When I first noticed these changes (first brought to my attention while listening to Bukowski reading his own work and following the text of that work in a Black Sparrow book I had) I've got a feeling what John Martin may have been trying to do is to 'tame' down the language in Bukowski's writing, removing the expletives, so that he could get Black Sparrow books onto reading lists for schools, colleges, etc. This is just a feeling of course and he didn't answer my question directly when I asked this of him so many years ago. He sent me some Black Sparrow merchandising instead (which was a kind thing to do but didn't really interest me so much as getting a straight answer to my question).
"In the decades since Bukowski's passing, the esteem and respect of Martin's peers and supporters continues to grow"
Martin is in a rage. Living with all that money begotten from his cash cow that up and died.
Martin is in a rage. Living with all that money begotten from his cash cow that up and died.
I'll do my part. I'm going to take my new copy of Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way and match it to the manuscripts and mark up my copy, make a video for Amazon review and physically show the extent of the changes so that people will be less inclined to buy it. Publishers notice that kind of thing ..
