What other writers have you read because Bukowski told you so? (2 Viewers)

celine

I've read 'Journey to the End of the Night' and I enjoyed it a whole lot, but how does the rest of his works compare? Any suggestions on what I should read?
 
Death On The Installment Plan, (Mort à Crédit) is also a good book by Céline.
 
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Jean Giono's Blue Boy too,
I think,
Thought recommended to Buk by Henry Miller.
He told him he would very much like it,
So I just had to read it
 
i've been reading Dostoyevski's "Notes from the underground"

he didnt receive much praise from it, but i find it highly interesting. check it out if youre into multiple personalities that think they're better and smarter than everybody. that's it in a nutshell. spitefull two-sided fydor that finds pleasure in a toothache.

read up kiddies!
 
Carson McCullers-the heart is a lonley hunter

one book you all forgot to mention and which Buk loved (and said was the greatest book written by a woman) is Carson McCuller's "The heart is a lonley hunter" have read it and it is brilliant.

Submitt poetry and storys to my new Buk dedicated MSN poetry/story web site-just go to

http://groups.msn.com/bukowskisgoatee/poetry.msnw

to join-look forward to seeing you there
cheers
acky
 
also think Buk would have liked the english authors Irvine Welsh of "Train spotting" fame and the scottish writer James Kellman (his best i think is called "A Dissafection") i asume you can get them in the USA somehow ? They are well worth checking out
cheers
acky
 
magnus mills "the restraint of beasts"

another writer I am sure Buk would have liked is called Magnus Mills because he is very very funny and a great no bullshit writer.Although i do not know if you Americans would get the english sense of humour but you should as it is so well written-had me laughing out loud.His most famous is called "The Restraint of Beasts" and will have you rolling about laughing.
 
Buks favorite authors and composers

Heres a further list of authors who Buk liked-taken page xii of the book "Charles Bukowski :Sunlight Here I am" edited by David Stephen Calonne which is well worth getting and contains key interviews at different stages of his life.Here is the list

Carson mcCullers (the heart is a lonley hunter which is great)
Friedrich Nietzsche (have not read)
Arthur Schopenhauer (have not read)
Antonin Artraud (have not read)
J.D.Salinger
Sherwood Anderson (have not read)
Franz Kafka
John Fante
D.H.Lawrence (have not read)
Louis-Ferdinand Celine
Knut Hamsun
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Henry Miller (although i thought Buk said he found it difficult to read him-i certainly found it difficult to read him !)
William Saroyan (have not read)
Ernest Hemingway (have not read)
Ivan Turgenev (have not read)
James Thurber (have not read)
Maxim Gorky (have not read) (i thought Buk said he liked early Gorky but i may be wrong)
John Dos Passos (have not read)
ee cummings (have not read)
Robinson Jeffers (have not read)
Stephen Spender (have not read)
W.H.Auden (read some)
Giovanni Boccaccio (have not read)
Conrad Aiken (have not read)
Ezra Pound (have not read)
Li Po (have not read)
Catullus (have not read) (never heard of him ?)

and his fav composers were as follows

Bach
Beethoven
handel
mahler
Mozart
Shostakovich
Sibelius
Stravinsky
Wagner

Maybe if some of you have read the authors above which i have not read you could point out to me the best books of theirs to get to read first.
cheers
ack

p.s. check out my new MSN web site where you can post Buk related poems and storys even if you were only inspired to write after reading Buk
called

Bukowski's goatee

and to be found at

http://groups.msn.com/bukowskisgoatee/poetry.msnw

be good to hear from you thier

ack

p.s.. let me know if i have missed anyone -I know he also loved "the singing detective" (english) t.v. series which was written by (the english writer) Dennis Potter maybe because the guy in it had a terrible skin decease.
 
Catullus was a Roman writer very famous for being the first one -or one of the first ones- to write poems with explicit sexual content. that's why B liked him, I guess :D
 
Chatterton and Villon

Thanks for the cattulus link.
Thier are another couple of poets who i think he only mentions once in the poem "Object Lesson" on page 82 of The Roominghouse Madrigals (early poems 1946-1966).They are

Francois Villon 1431-14 ?

who can be found by going to following link

http://www.everypoet.com/Archive/poetry/Francois_Villon/index.htm


and the english poet

Thomas Chatterton 1752-1770

who can be found by going to the following link

http://www.poemhunter.com/thomas-chatterton/poet-7172/

in Poem hunter.com
 
nope, he mentions both Chatterton and Villon in quite a few poems, especially in those typical name-dropping Bukowski poems.
 
Oh right Cirerita-have read most of his books-except a few recent ones.Must have forgot him mentioning them in other poems-it's a wonder they did not get a mention in the "Sunlight here i am book" (which is well worth getting).i wonder how Buk first got to hear about them-no internet back then and they are hardly famous (or at least i had never heard of them before) some library maybe ? The best book on Buk by the way-in my humble opinion is Steve Richmond's "Spinning of Bukowski" it really gives you an idea of what it was like to know the man.
 
I just finished The Stranger a few days ago and I wasn't extremely impressed. I liked the persona of the main character and, trying not to spoil the book, the bit about him ending up where he does because of a perhaps-unrelated occurence. I felt the protagonist was trying to displace his guilt a bit too much and there really wasn't any motivation for it at all (there was obvious hostile intent from the Arab but it hardly warranted his treatment).
 
man I need to get my hands on a copy of Celine's Journey To The End Of Night. Can somebody help me out? PM me plz. I'm sure we can work out a loan of the book or something. ;)
 
The Hunger

Bukowski mentions Hamsun several times in both novels and poems, and the novel that impressed Hank the most was Hamsun's debut The Hunger. I also recommend Mysteries and Pan for those who would like to check out the Norwegian genius.
 
HenryChinaski said:
man I need to get my hands on a copy of Celine's Journey To The End Of Night. Can somebody help me out? PM me plz. I'm sure we can work out a loan of the book or something. ;)

If you send me a SASE, I'll send you my copy.

SD
 
jorgen said:
Bukowski mentions Hamsun several times in both novels and poems, and the novel that impressed Hank the most was Hamsun's debut The Hunger. I also recommend Mysteries and Pan for those who would like to check out the Norwegian genius.

Keep in mind though that Hamsun was a Nazi and a traitor to rival Quisling.:mad:
His real name was Knud Pedersen.
When Hitler died he wrote an obituary in a leading Norwegian newspaper praising Hitler's greatness!
Hitler in turn much admired Hamsun.
Hamsun could write but he couldn't think straight. A good poet must do both.

Like Buk says, too many writers get caught up in dirty politics, other examples: Celine & Pound.
Buk should know, he nearly got caught up in the Nazi movement himself, didn't he?;)

PS: anybody read the wild french author by name of Michel Houellebecq?
He definitely kicks ass!
 
Erik said:
Hamsun could write but he couldn't think straight. A good poet must do both.

I totally disagree with the later part....
I love Knut's books
(even if I don't know how to pronounce his first name:> )
And think crazies (those who can't think straight) aren't barred from producing decent, and even awesome poetry.
I certainly despise all Hitler stood for, and hate the fact that Mr Hamsun was sympathetic, but still, I can appreciate his writing. I think I have all of his stuff.
If I knew me purchasing Knut's shit contributed to Hitler's cause, then I'd be done with buying more (but I still wouldn't burn what I had, it's good shit)
 
I read one of Houellebecq's books, can't recall the title now, probably the most famous one. It kind of disappointed me, though.

yeah, I read both Hamsun and Celine were pro-nazi, but I couldn't care less. I dig their books, not their lives.
 
zoom man said:
I certainly despise all Hitler stood for, and hate the fact that Mr Hamsun was sympathetic, but still, I can appreciate his writing. I think I have all of his stuff.

Writing and life should always be linked. Good writing isn't neutral just because its good writing. Hitler was just as gifted as an orator as Hamsun was as a writer. They both duped ppl in similar ways, thru technique with flawed content. This is a common weakness in many writers.

Good writing is worthless without real living. Do you admire Hitler's speeches in the same way you admire Hamsun's writing? ;)

I guess its all right to admire Hamsun's technique, but all in all he's flawed as an author - at least in my opinion. He didn't "walk thru the fire" in a way I admire.
 
of course living and writing are intertwined, but mostly in the author's life. as a reader, I simply don't care how a good/bad doctor Celine was or if he really worshipped Hitler or Mahoma. that took a toll in his life, for sure, and maybe even helped somehow to create interesting stuff.

you don't have to live the author's life to enjoy his books.
 
Good point Erik,
And I totally respect hitler's orating skills,
Egads, all politicians would win if they could speak with hitler's emotion,
That, you have to compliment,
But I still don't agree.

Good writing is never worthless...... no matter the source, time, particular situtation, etc.
I don't need a history of the author before I can give an honest critique of his work

And I don't think you have to necessarily 'walk thru the fire' to write (well, that means).
Egads, I hope not.
I'm working on my Opus know, and I can't claim any of the above
(though the embers hurt like hell)
 
Of course my opinion on Hamsun most likely has something to do with my upbringing. Both my parents grew up in Norway during the Nazi occupation in WW2, and when asked about Hamsun they usually start their reply with something like: "you mean the Nazi?" or some such...

For some reason they never say: "oh you mean the wonderful genius who won the Nobel prize for literature?" :D

By the way, Hamsun spent some time in "Amerika" and the year before Hunger was released he put out the book called The Cultural Life of Modern America in which he attacks the "low" quality of American culture. He also has quite a few rasist statemants against black ppl.
But of course, its all well written... :p
 
Nazism, cannibalism or child abuse aside, you have to separate the artist from the art in most cases, or we would have empty libraries, museums, movie theaters and concert halls. Everyone has a scumbag quality or two if you dig deep enough. Sometimes you don't have to dig at all. But if we start to qualify art based on the artist's personality, we're dooming ourselves to a world of mediocrity, outright crap and nothingness.

Remember that the Nazis (and other dictatorial, fascist or totalitarian "governments") suppressed and destroyed art that didn't fit into their world view.
 
Hear; Hear. And, also, people sometimes make bad calls based on their early limited, erroeous information; they might evolve and amend their views based on new data. Does anyone know if Hamsun ever recanted his Nazi support later?

SD
 
seperation of art and artist is very important. if I didn't know anything about Hamsun's personal life, I could never tell from his novels that he supported the Nazi ideal. It's unfortunate that I do know about Hamsun's politics, because try as I might, it still taints my opinion of his work. I read Growth of the Soil and Hunger before I knew of his leanings and loved them. I still love them, but a bit sadly now...
 
mjp said:
[...] Everyone has a scumbag quality or two if you dig deep enough. Sometimes you don't have to dig at all. But if we start to qualify art based on the artist's personality, we're dooming ourselves to a world of mediocrity, outright crap and nothingness. [...]

Whoaaa MJ! who mentioned Hamsun's personality? I'm talking about actual, concrete deeds and actions. The guy supported Adolf H, whose cronies murdered thousands of Hamsun's countrymen. I don't have a clue about his personality though.

Hamsun's writing was an action and his political deeds another. They're both actions. All I'm saying is that his actions in politics leave me extremely skeptical to his actions in writing.There's a coldness there, a hardness, a lack of irony & humor, that puts me off. But hey, thats just my opinion.

And I agree that "scumbag qualities" are part of every person's "dark side", and they're often more prominent with authors & artists. Great authors can tap this dark pool of madness, as a resource. Thats why we need them. But - in my opinion - the best authors are best because they can "handle" their dark side, either by strength, discipline, will power, intellect, talent, instinct, alcohol, luck, or whatever you wanna call it.

Hamsun gave in to the dark side, the vain, weak bastard. ;)

On the other hand: Hamsun was extremely old during WW2, and had all but stopped writing. One could say that he was just an old fuddy duddy who got duped in his Alzheimer years. But he never recanted. During the trial the court pronounced that he had "impaired mental faculties" (just like Ez Pound!), but he refused to acknowledge this and demanded a full trial which he did not get. All his possessions were impounded. He consequently went on to write his last book to prove that his "mental faculties" were intact (On Overgrown Paths, published in 1949 when he was 90!).

For an author that had a much deeper dark pool of madness and still managed to handle it, see August Strindberg's masterpiece INFERNO.

Also worth checking out: Arne Garborg's Weary Men which came out the year after Hunger.
 
Erik said:
Whoaaa MJ! who mentioned Hamsun's personality? I'm talking about actual, concrete deeds and actions. The guy supported Adolf H, whose cronies murdered thousands of Hamsun's countrymen.
Yeah, I'm aware of what Hitler and his henchmen did. I'm not defending Hamsun, I've never read a word he's written. I'm just saying, and will continue to say, that you can't judge art on the saintliness or evilness of the creator of the art.

Actually, you can't even judge art. Whether art is good or bad is subjective, and the consensus changes on what is good or bad as the years go by.

I don't think it's cool to support fascists, or collect scribbles that Charles Manson made in a California prison cell, but those are extremes. But once you set the standard using an extreme, someone will come along and move your standard a little bit, then a little bit more, and the next thing you know they are throwing brown haired artists who paint left handed and voted for Schwarzenegger into "relocation" camps out in the desert.
 
I think I hate Hitler with a virulence that is shared by most in the civilized world. And being 1/4 Norwegian, I am quite ashamed of Hamsun. That said, his art will stand on its own. As Larry Flint said, "I am just the kind of despicable, loathsome person that the First Amendment was written to protect." Anything this side of exposing state secrets that jeopardize the country's vital security or how to manufacture homemade bio-weapons should be censored in the subjective, and not by the government. Otherwise, we're headed for a more fascist state than we have now. (And they are censoring plenty already.)

SD
 
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I wonder if Buk ever read any Hermann Hesse.
I found a copy of "Demian" at the library and boy is it marvelous. Talk about timeless writing.

Hesse's writing has a sort of immortal feel to it.
 
"Demian" was great, as was "Steppenwolf." It's been around thirty years since I've read either of these but I think I may read them again. I think that I may be able to get more out of them now that I'm old(er).

Funny how some books that you re-read when you're older can reveal things that you may have entirely missed (or misunderstood) when you were young. Anyone under twenty should read Eliot's "Little Gidding" from the "Four Quartets," and then re-read it in twenty years time. You'll likely find that it's a completely different poem from the one you read when you were young.
 
I read all of Hesse's books when I was in my 20's, but now at my advanced, cynical age I wonder whether I was reading Hesse or his translators. Either way, I dug it.

I saw a crazy 16mm film based on Siddhartha back in the '80's in Santa Monica or Venice somewhere. It was a good, fresh night and a crazy movie.
 
Another vote for Journey (Manheim translation.) Jems on almost every page. I recall Buk said it was the only good book Celine wrote. I thought Death on the Installment Plan was OK.
 

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