Charles Bukowski
Related: American literature - "transgressive fiction"
Biography
Charles Bukowski (August 16, 1920 March 9, 1994), was a Los Angeles poet and novelist. Bukowski is sometimes associated with the Beat Generation writers because of his informal style and non-conformist literary attitude, though he did not identify himself as a Beat. Bukowski closely associated his works with his home city of Los Angeles and wrote more than fifty books before his death. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles Bukowski [Mar 2006]
Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981) - Marco Ferreri
Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981) - Ben Gazzara plays Charles Serking, a character loosely based on Bukowski's autobiographical character Henry Chinaski. The slow and stiffly acted film never found an audience, and Bukowski - though friendly with Gazzara - panned the actor's performance. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bukowski#Film [Mar 2006]See also: Marco Ferreri
Influences
Notes of a Dirty Old Man (1969) - Charles Bukowski
Notes of a Dirty Old Man, the book, published in 1969, is 204 pages of excerpted columns written by Charles Bukowski, a beat generation legend, who wrote these pieces for a notorious Los Angeles underground paper called OPEN CITY. Bukowski's column was also titled notes of a dirty old man.
The book is shear nonsensical, no-nonsense pleasure to read, describing the life and times of the writer. Bukowski, (1920-1994) RIP was a helluva guy. A poet and a writer who lived by the seat of his pants. He had a cult following, but never was appreciated, artistically or financially by the public at large. I'm not sure he would have enjoyed fame, nor do I know if he ever really seeked it. Just an educated guess on my part. For instance, he refused to do poetry readings when he could have used the money.
This book digs down into the grit of the life of a man who as a youth was the punching bag for a wannabe hard-áss father who turned coward when the bag finally punched back. Bukowski developed what he describes as the Frozen Boy Stance, later developed into a Frozen Man Stance. A posture and attitude of not being affected by life's hardships.
Bukowski loved to drink. Alcohol was his short term enemy, but sorry roundheads, it was a key to his greatness. He lived and described skid row life from a first person perspective. He stayed true to the hard values he learned there.
Charles Bukowski reminds me a little of Kerouac, a bit of Thompson. In the end, this is fun read! Do yourself a favor and buy this book!
Also recommended: THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez --a reader, amazon.com
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