Bukowski is one of my favorite books.I got to see him in San Pedro he was such a great person, as well as being a writer of perfection.....When the reading was over I went up to him and his wife Linda and asked him to autograph my copy of Post Office.He looked down and began to say he didn't give his autograph out to anyone.His wife whispered in his ear he looked up and immediately said" Oh my God..You look like me in my twenties... " Grabbed my book and signed to my twin! Buk....After I broke up with my wife years later to get revenge on me she burned the book to ashes...........
Bukowski's greatest work of fiction was himself. He made himself a sort of myth... macho, nihilist alcoholic. He was intense and wrote of intense things, but he had a tender side... a tender side that many of his impersonators overlook.
In 1963 - 1964 I worked at Terminal Annex P.O. in downtown L.A..I encountered Bukowski 2 or 3 times...he wasn't published or famous then but he was an odd- looking dude...he'd be taking the escalator up to the 4th floor city letters...I worked on the 2nd floor...as he came around to ride the escalator up to the next floor, he'd be surrounded by black mail handlers...I think they talked horse racing...Buk had a Racing Form tucked into his back pocket...and a wary look on his face...
I love Bukowski’s writing. His texts feels so close, almost like a old, dead relative telling me how things REALLY are. Trying to calm me down, make me understand life. The voice is telling me that it cannot be understood though, but we are in this boat together and we are all gonna die. ”We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.” Bukowski
This following poem is EXACTLY what i get any time I read Bukowski. Even when I think im the most doomed and worlds biggest fuck up. I can open a book by my favorite "fuck up" and see that even they can make their life their own. Which is greater than any social status our society values. "your life is your life don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission. be on the watch. there are ways out. there is light somewhere. it may not be much light but it beats the darkness. be on the watch. the gods will offer you chances. know them. take them. you can’t beat death but you can beat death in life, sometimes. and the more often you learn to do it, the more light there will be. your life is your life. know it while you have it. you are marvelous the gods wait to delight in you." -- by Charles Bukowski
3:01 - Buk wrote, I think in "Notes", that ginsberg and burroughs "have gone soft", and, probably in the same entry he wrote... ...wait, I found it: "there is only one place to write and that is alone at a typewriter. a writer who has to go into the streets is the writer who does not know the streets", so i guess you are right Buk was genre of his own and wanted to keep distance. 8:20-8:31 - that is so fucking true. :) 13:41 - yeah, i remember reading Ham on rye (here in Serbia they translated it "Bludni sin"), that part where he describes his sadistic father beating the shit out of him for not mowing the lawn, because he didnt cut all the hair. yeah, that kind of thing destroyed him i agree. Great review, as always.
good book read it in high school as a freshman because I had a tutor who saw I had Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He told me the next step for me was to seek the work of Bukowski. Really got into him how he starts Women, good book. soon I finished Women I read Post Office. My favorite though has to be Ham on Rye, a testament to the strength of Bukowski. If I had never read him I would never choose to write myself because reading him taught me you could be honest. I was used to boring young adult books so really opened my eyes.
Just recently saw Barfly and am busy reading Ham on Rye which is kind of autobiographical and moving...but like you saw can't really advocate the lifestyle. In Barfly the character Chinaski [Bukowski] says to Tully "... It’s a cage with golden bars.” but why would a cage of alcohol be any better than a cage of golden bars? But putting the lifestyle away he is nevertheless a gritty writer.
Great review! I've read so many books that are funny, because they were REALLY bad. Post Office is really funny in a best possible way and beautiful, also. Bukowskis way of writing tight sentences with a punch like no other was unbelievable when I first came across of his work. Post Office will always be in my top 10 books of all time.
I know obviously the "millennial feminists" thing was a joke, but funny enough, a great deal of my feminist friends happen to be Bukowski fans. Who would've guessed?
Yeah there's always the wonderful non-feminist feminists who always seem to manifest during conversations when feminists are being roasted. They are always shadowy and unproven and highly commendable.
...he is very much one of his own regarding the impact he got today in krass contrast to all the others and he did almost everything to become not a world-famous writer, but he did! and in that regard he outlived them all...
Stoner, A Good Man Is Hard to Find, and Bukowski. God fucking bless you, Clifford. I'm about to read Nightmare Alley. You're always good for a new book or two.
Great review, I have a lot of love for this book! Also, I'd just want to ask if you'd consider reviewing Hans Bellmer's "The Doll" (Die Puppe) Though he isn't for everyone and he certainly scares the shit out of me. Thanks...
Love this book! You could argue the writing and the alcoholism both come from the same place - one of shyness and loneliness . Kitchen Confidential is great too, haven't tried any of Bourdain's others though.
Excellent, well done. I've been tempted to get more of his novels, I have this one. Pulp seems to be good, The Most Beautiful Woman in Town is an interesting compilation of short stories. Certainly Notes From A Dirty Old Man is on the list as well. I think you're onto something though, romanticizing the self destructive alcoholic writing style, it is dangerous. Maybe even realizing the beauty in such a prose reveals some sort of predilection within yourself. I haven't decided to plunge head first into the night just because it would give me good writing material, when it's all said and done you end up with terrible experiences and then you have to rely on your literary ineptitude to try and make something out of it, but odds are you're going to drown in the memory of all that darkness and no one will ever care about anything you write about. You come up short-changed and beaten. Not worth it, not yet.
I suggest ham on rye. I think it was his best novel. Pulp was good but nothing like classic Bukowski. Also factotum and women are very very good, but ham on rye is the best
Copy that, thanks! I obviously love his poetry but its coming to the point where I'll pick up one of his poetic compilations and I've already read about 80% of whats in that book I don't have yet. Moving on to unexplored Bukowski regions here.
This review reminds me of a candle, but, a candle from that Palahniuk segment, Guts. Oh, and your shirt totally reminds me of Lord Varys, also known as Spider, from Game of Thrones!! Very… cool.
If you like your Bukowski there's his 1987 movie *Barfly* which is just fabulous! (Something of a secret gem) - With Mickey Rooney and Faye Dunaway, both on genuine top form........Even Chuck himself is in it! ....And there's just SO many quotable lines! (He did write the script, after all) And best of all, it's been uploaded in full for free onto RU-vid: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nYF3q1KCZnM.html
fucking love your reviews man, I am a huge Bukowski fan, he is to me what Fante was to him, except he met Fante and was his friend, but Bukowski is just my friend from a distance.
Just so ya know.. That insider information about Barbet Schroeder with the saw, that's all written in Bukowski's book Hollywood. Hilarious scene, but yeah not any insider or behind the scene info.
@@ilqar887 Don't try by Bukowski means you dont need to make impression towards others. Just be authentic without needing confirmation and appreciation from others. This is freedom and I suppose that Bukowski meant this by the quote Don't try.
Been watching your videos off an on for the past couple of days after finding the Cendrars review and loving them very similar taste as mine. Im sure your book list is long but you will absolutely love kaus kinski's autobiography. It's incredibly ridiculous.
Agreed... I think a lot of self-destructive authors are romanticized because they write nice and validate misery with such eloquence. The writing is good but that doesn’t validate self-destruction and self-pity imo
wish that cliff still made his reviews a little drunk lol upgrade: actually not hahahaaha but i do like that he gets a little more personal. ps: very dark the post office stories of his life
No sane man of intelligence will plead for a religion on the grounds that it is better than nothing. It is not better than nothing if it is not true. Truth is better than anything or all things. -Ambrose Bierce, 1842-1914
Loved this book! One of my favorites. Oh, and for everyone whos interested: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uWSg1z0hzjs.html What Cliff was talking about.
I always just assumed you lived in new york. I don't even know why. Whenever I think of LA. I picture everybody being so fucking positive all the time. I'm being ignorant here.
love your work keep it up man. watching this because a friend loves Bukowski. Hmmm... you know what , because a man has an advanced poetic sensibility and a real authenticity and descriptive capability, does not make him or his content admirable. a narcissistic alcoholic hedonist. not to be admired pedestaled or seen as a mentor role model in any way. This is A Big problem in our modern tech world with its ridiculous cult of personality thread . Exposure does not equal substance. Poor bastard. Fucked up big time .