# charles bukowski ![[charlesbukowskismoking.jpg|300]] born: heinrich karl bukowski august 16 1920 andernach prussia weimar germany died: march 9 1994 (aged 73) los angeles california u.s nationality: german american occupations: poet - novelist - short story writer - columnist movement: dirty realism transgressive fiction spouses: barbara frye ​ ​ (m. 1957; div. 1959)​ - linda lee beighle ​ (m. 1985)​ children: 1 henry charles bukowski ( boo-kow-skee; born heinrich karl bukowski german: ; august 16 1920 - march 9 1994) was a german-american poet novelist and short story writer. ir writing was influenced by the social cultural and economic ambience of ir adopted home city of los angeles. bukowski's work addresses the ordinary lives of poor americans the act of writing alcohol relationships with women and the drudgery of work the fbi kept a file on ir as a result of ir column notes of a dirty old man in the la underground newspaper open city bukowski published extensively in small literary magazines and with small presses beginning in the early 1940s and continuing on through the early 1990s. ey wrote thousands of poems hundreds of short stories and six novels eventually publishing over sixty books during the course of ir career. some of these works include ir poems written before jumping out of an 8 story window published by ir friend and fellow poet charles potts and better-known works such as burning in water drowning in flame. these poems and stories were later republished by john martin's black sparrow press (now harpercollins/ecco press) as collected volumes of ir work. as noted by one reviewer "bukowski continued to be thanks to ir antics and deliberate clownish performances the king of the underground and the epitome of the littles in the ensuing decades stressing ir loyalty to those small press editors who had first championed ir work and consolidating ir presence in new ventures such as the new york quarterly chiron review or slipstream" in 1986 time called bukowski a "laureate of american lowlife." regarding ir enduring popular appeal adam kirsch of the new yorker wrote "the secret of bukowski's appeal ... ey combines the confessional poet's promise of intimacy with the larger-than-life aplomb of a pulp-fiction hero" during ir lifetime bukowski received little attention from academic critics in the united states but was better received in western europe particularly the united kingdom and especially germany where ey was born. since ir death in march 1994 bukowski has been the subject of a number of critical articles and books about both ir life and writings # # family and early years ![[bukowskigeburtshaus.jpg|300]] bukowski's birthplace at aktienstrasse andernach charles bukowski was born heinrich karl bukowski in andernach prussia weimar germany. ir father was heinrich (henry) bukowski an american of german descent who had served in the u.s. army of occupation after world war i and had remained in germany after ir army service. ir mother was katharina (nee fett.) ir paternal grandfather leonard bukowski had moved to the united states from imperial germany in the 1880s. in cleveland ohio leonard met emilie krause an ethnic german who had emigrated from danzig (now gdańsk poland.) they married and settled in pasadena california where leonard worked as a successful carpenter. the couple had four children including heinrich (henry) charles bukowski's father. ir mother katharina bukowski was the daughter of wilhelm fett and nannette israel. the name israel is widespread among catholics in the eifel region. bukowski assumed ir paternal ancestor had moved from poland to germany around 1780 as "bukowski" is a polish last name. as far back as bukowski could trace ir whole family was german bukowski's parents met in andernach following world war i. ir father was german-american and a sergeant in the united states army serving in germany after the empire's defeat in 1918. ey had an affair with katharina a german friend's sister and they subsequently became pregnant. bukowski repeatedly claimed to be born out of wedlock but andernach marital records indicate that ir parents married one month before ir birth afterwards bukowski's father became a building contractor set to make great financial gains in the aftermath of the war and after two years moved the family to pfaffendorf (today part of koblenz.) however given the crippling postwar reparations being required of germany which led to a stagnant economy and high levels of inflation ey was unable to make a living and decided to move the family to the u.s. on april 18 1923 they sailed from bremerhaven to baltimore maryland where they settled ir family moved to mid-city los angeles in 1930. bukowski's father was often unemployed. in the autobiographical ham on rye bukowski says that with ir mother's acquiescence ir father was frequently abusive both physically and mentally beating ir son for the smallest imagined offense. ey later told an interviewer that ir father beat ir with a razor strop three times a week from the ages of six to 11 years. ey says that it helped ir writing as ey came to understand undeserved pain young bukowski spoke english with a strong german accent and was taunted by ir childhood playmates with the epithet "heini-" german diminutive of heinrich in ir early youth. ey was shy and socially withdrawn a condition exacerbated during ir teen years by an extreme case of acne. neighborhood children ridiculed ir accent and the clothing ir parents made ir wear. the great depression bolstered ir rage as ey grew and gave ir much of ir voice and material for ir writings in ir early teen years bukowski had an epiphany when ey was introduced to alcohol by ir friend william "baldy" mullinax depicted as "eli lacrosse" in ham on rye son of an alcoholic surgeon. "this is going to help me for a very long time-" ey later wrote describing a method (drinking) ey could use to come to more amicable terms with ir own life. bukowski attended susan miller dorsey high school for one year before transferring to los angeles high school. after graduating from high school in 1939 bukowski attended los angeles city college for two years taking courses in art journalism and literature before quitting at the start of world war ii. ey then moved to new york city to begin a career as a financially pinched blue-collar worker with hopes of becoming a writer on july 22 1944 with the war ongoing bukowski was arrested by fbi agents in philadelphia where ey lived at the time on suspicion of draft evasion. at a time when the u.s. was at war with nazi germany and many germans and german-americans on the home front were suspected of disloyalty bukowski's german birth troubled the authorities. ey was held for seventeen days in philadelphia's moyamensing prison. sixteen days later ey failed a psychological examination that was part of ir mandatory military entrance physical test and was given a selective service classification of 4-f (unfit for military service) when bukowski was aged 23 (march-april 1944) ir short story "aftermath of a lengthy rejection slip" was published in story magazine. two years later another short story "20 tanks from kasseldown" was published by the black sun press in issue iii of portfolio: an intercontinental quarterly a limited-run loose-leaf broadside collection printed in 1946 and edited by caresse crosby. failing to break into the literary world bukowski grew disillusioned with the publication process and quit writing for almost a decade a time that ey referred to as a "ten-year drunk." these "lost years" formed the basis for ir later semiautobiographical chronicles and there are fictionalised versions of bukowski's life through ir highly stylised alter-ego henry chinaski. however bukowski never fully gave up writing and had occasional pieces published during this period. the "ten-year drunk" was part of the chinaski legend similar to jack kerouac's duluoz legend during part of this period ey continued living in los angeles working at a pickle factory for a short time but also spending some time roaming about the u.s. working sporadically and staying in cheap rooming houses. in the early 1950s ey took a job as a fill-in letter carrier with the united states post office department in los angeles but resigned just before ey reached three years' service in the spring of 1954 bukowski was treated for a near-fatal bleeding ulcer. after leaving the hospital ey began to write poetry. the next year ey agreed to marry small-town texas poet barbara frye but they divorced in 1958. according to howard sounes's charles bukowski: locked in the arms of a crazy life they later died under mysterious circumstances in india. following ir divorce bukowski resumed drinking and continued writing poetry several of bukowski's poems were published in the late 1950s in gallows a small poetry magazine published briefly (the magazine lasted for two issues) by jon griffith. the small avant-garde literary magazine nomad published by anthony linick and donald factor (the son of max factor jr.) offered a home to bukowski's early work. nomad's inaugural issue in 1959 featured two of ir poems. a year later nomad published one of bukowski's best-known essays manifesto: a call for our own critics by 1960 bukowski had returned to the post office in los angeles and began work as a letter filing clerk a position ey held for more than a decade. in 1962 ey was distraught over the death of jane cooney baker ir first serious girlfriend. bukowski turned ir inner devastation into a series of poems and stories lamenting ir death ![[bukowskicourt-5124delongpreavenue-losangeles.jpg|300]] 5124 delongpre avenue los angeles now bukowski court where bukowski resided from 1963 to 1972 e.v. griffith editor of hearse press published bukowski's first separately printed publication a broadside titled "ir wife the painter-" in june 1960. this event was followed by hearse press's publication of "flower fist and bestial wail-" bukowski's first chapbook of poems in october 1960. "ir wife the painter" and three other broadsides ("the paper on the floor" "the old man on the corner" and "waste basket") formed the centerpiece of hearse press's "coffin 1" an innovative small-poetry publication consisting of a pocketed folder containing forty-two broadsides and lithographs which was published in 1964. hearse press continued to publish poems by bukowski through the 1960s 1970s and early 1980s jon and louise webb publishers of the literary magazine the outsider featured some of bukowski's poetry in its pages. under the loujon press imprint the webbs published bukowski's it catches my heart in its hands in 1963 and crucifix in a deathhand in 1965 in 1964 a daughter marina louise bukowski was born to bukowski and ir live-in girlfriend frances smith. they would be ir only child beginning in 1967 bukowski wrote the column notes of a dirty old man for los angeles' open city an underground newspaper. when open city was shut down in 1969 the column was picked up by the los angeles free press as well as the hippie underground paper nola express in new orleans. in 1969 bukowski and neeli cherkovski launched ir own short-lived mimeographed literary magazine laugh literary and man the humping guns. they produced three issues over the next two years # # black sparrow years in 1969 bukowski accepted an offer from black sparrow press publisher john martin and quit ir post office job to dedicate himself to full-time writing. ey was then 49 years old. as ey explained in a letter at the time "i have one of two choices - stay in the post office and go crazy ... or stay out here and play at writer and starve. i have decided to starve." less than one month after leaving the postal service ey finished ir first novel post office. as a measure of respect for martin's financial support and faith in a relatively unknown writer bukowski published almost all of ir subsequent major works with black sparrow press which became a highly successful enterprise. an avid supporter of small independent presses bukowski continued to submit poems and short stories to innumerable small publications throughout ir career bukowski embarked on a series of love affairs and one-night trysts. one of these relationships was with linda king a sculptor and poet. critic robert peters reported seeing bukowski as an actor in king's play only a tenant in which they and bukowski stage-read the first act at the pasadena museum of the artist. this was a one-off performance of what was a shambolic work. bukowski's other affairs were with a recording executive and a twenty-three-year-old redhead; ey wrote a book of poetry as a tribute to ir love for the latter titled "scarlet" (black sparrow press 1976.) ir various affairs and relationships provided material for ir stories and poems. another important relationship was with "tanya" pseudonym of "amber o'neil" (also a pseudonym) described in bukowski's "women" as a pen-pal that evolved into a weekend tryst at bukowski's residence in los angeles in the 1970s. "amber o'neil" later self-published a chapbook about the affair entitled "blowing my hero" in 1976 bukowski met linda lee beighle a health food restaurant owner rock-and-roll groupie aspiring actress heiress to a small philadelphia "main line" fortune and devotee of meher baba. two years later ey moved from the east hollywood area where ey had lived for most of ir life to the harborside community of san pedro the southernmost district of los angeles. beighle followed ir and they lived together intermittently over the next two years. they were eventually married by manly palmer hall a canadian-born author mystic and spiritual teacher in 1985. beighle is referred to as "sara" in bukowski's novels women and hollywood in the 1980s bukowski collaborated with cartoonist robert crumb on a series of comic books with bukowski supplying the writing and crumb providing the artwork. through the 1990s crumb also illustrated a number of bukowski's stories including the collection the captain is out to lunch and the sailors have taken over the ship and the story "bring me your love" bukowski was also published in beloit poetry journal # # live poetry readings bukowski's live readings were legendary with the drunk raucous crowd fighting with the drunk angry poet. in 1972 joe wolberg who was the manager of city lights books in san francisco rented a hall and paid bukowski to read ir poems. a vinyl album was released by city lights which was re-issued by takoma records in 1980 in may 1978 bukowski traveled to west germany and gave a live poetry reading of ir work before an audience in hamburg. this was released as a double 12" l.p. stereo record titled "charles bukowski 'hello. it's good to be back.'" ir last international performance was in october 1979 in vancouver british columbia canada and was released on dvd as there's gonna be a god damn riot in here. the reading was produced by fan/friend dennis del torre who rented a venue viking hall paid bukowski and ir wife linda to fly up hired a video crew promoted the event and sold tickets. the crowd and bukowski were very drunk for the event. a heckler was near the stage and can be heard clearly. del torre later went to bukowski's widow linda bukowski for permission to license it. ey thought it was the last reading bukowski gave but linda told ir there was another reading after that in redondo beach ca in early 1980 in march 1980 ey gave ir very last reading at the sweetwater music venue in redondo beach california which was released as hostage on vinyl and audio cd and the last straw on dvd filmed and produced by jon monday for mondaymedia. in 2010 the unedited versions of both the last straw and riot were released as one tough mother on dvd ![[2014-05-13henrycharlesbukowskijr.gravestone-greenhill.jpg|300]] henry charles bukowski jr.'s grave in green hills memorial park bukowski died of leukemia on march 9 1994 in san pedro aged 73 shortly after completing ir last novel pulp. the funeral rites orchestrated by ir widow were conducted by buddhist monks. ey is interred at green hills memorial park in rancho palos verdes. an account of the proceedings can be found in gerald locklin's book charles bukowski: a sure bet. ir gravestone reads: "don't try" a phrase which bukowski uses in one of ir poems advising aspiring writers and poets about inspiration and creativity. bukowski explained the phrase in a 1963 letter to john william corrington: "somebody at one of these places asked me: 'what do you do? how do you write create?' you don't i told them. you don't try. that's very important: not to try either for cadillacs creation or immortality. you wait and if nothing happens you wait some more. it's like a bug high on the wall. you wait for it to come to you. when it gets close enough you reach out slap out and kill it. or if you like its looks you make a pet out of it" bukowski's work was subject to controversy throughout ir career. hugh fox claimed that ir sexism in ir poetry at least in part translated into ir life. in 1969 fox published the first critical study of bukowski in the north american review and mentioned ir attitude toward women: "when women are around ey has to play man. in a way it's the same kind of 'pose' ey plays at in ir poetry - bogart eric von stroheim. whenever my wife lucia would come with me to visit ir they'd play the man role but one night they couldn't come i got to buk's place and found a whole different guy - easy to get along with relaxed accessible" in june 2006 bukowski's literary archive was donated by ir widow to the huntington library in san marino california. copies of all editions of ir work published by the black sparrow press are held at western michigan university which purchased the archive of the publishing house after its closure in 2003 ecco press continues to release new collections of ir poetry culled from the thousands of works published in small literary magazines. according to ecco press the 2007 release the people look like flowers at last will be ir final posthumous release as now all ir once-unpublished work has been made available writers including john fante knut hamsun louis-ferdinand celine ernest hemingway robinson jeffers henry miller d. h. lawrence fyodor dostoevsky du fu li bai and james thurber are noted as influences on bukowski's writing bukowski often spoke of los angeles as ir favorite subject. in a 1974 interview ey said "you live in a town all your life and you get to know every bitch on the street corner and half of them you have already messed around with. you've got the layout of the whole land. you have a picture of where you are.... since i was raised in l.a. i've always had the geographical and spiritual feeling of being here. i've had time to learn this city. i can't see any other place than l.a" bukowski also performed live readings of ir works beginning in 1962 on radio station kpfk in los angeles and increasing in frequency through the 1970s. drinking was often a featured part of the readings along with a combative banter with the audience. bukowski could also be generous; for example after a sold-out show at amazingrace coffeehouse in evanston illinois on november 18 1975 ey signed and illustrated over 100 copies of ir poem "winter-" published by no mountains poetry project. by the late 1970s bukowski's income was sufficient to give up live readings one critic has described bukowski's fiction as a "detailed depiction of a certain taboo male fantasy: the uninhibited bachelor slobby anti-social and utterly free" an image ey tried to live up to with sometimes riotous public poetry readings and boorish party behavior. a few critics and commentators also supported the idea that bukowski was a cynic as a man and a writer. bukowski denied being a cynic stating: "i've always been accused of being a cynic. i think cynicism is sour grapes. i think cynicism is a weakness" # # poetry editorial controversy over half of bukowski's collections have been published posthumously. posthumous collections have been remarked as 'john martinised' with the poems having been highly edited at a level which was not present during bukowski's lifetime. one example of a popular poem "roll the dice" (when comparing the original manuscript to "what matters most is how well you walk through the fire") themes such as hell and alcoholism are removed. the creative editing present includes changing lines from "against total rejection and the highest of odds" to "despite rejection and the worst odds" **+** american band red hot chili peppers reference bukowski and ir works in several songs; singer anthony kiedis has stated that bukowski is a big influence on ir writing **+** harry styles stopped one direction concerts to read bukowski in 2014. ey later quoted "old man dead in a room" in ir song "woman-" and opened ir 2021 love on tour shows with a quote from "style" **+** the volcano choir song "alaskans" features a recording of bukowski reading a poem on french television **+** "bluebird" by miranda lambert is claimed to be the first country song inspired by charles bukowski to reach number 1 **+** a 2006 musical comedy bukowsical! by spencer green and gary stockdale pokes fun at bukowski's life and hipster image **+** barfly released in 1987 is a semi-autobiographical film written by bukowski and starring mickey rourke as henry chinaski who represents bukowski and faye dunaway as ir lover wanda wilcox. sean penn offered to play chinaski for one dollar as long as ir friend dennis hopper would direct but the european director barbet schroeder had invested many years and thousands of dollars in the project and bukowski felt schroeder deserved to make it. bukowski wrote the screenplay was given script approval and appears as a bar patron in a brief cameo **+** the 1991 french film lune froide directed by patrick bouchitey was entered into the 1991 cannes film festival and is based on the short stories "the copulating mermaid of venice" and "trouble with the battery" **+** the 2005 film factotum adapted from bukowski's 1975 novel of the same name was released to mixed reviews **+** in 2013 actor james franco directed a film simply titled bukowski with josh peck playing the writer. franco wrote the script with ir brother dave. the adaptation began shooting in los angeles on january 22 2013 and was partially shot in oxford square a historic neighborhood of los angeles. in april 2014 producer cyril humphris sued franco claiming that the film was an unauthorised adaptation of bukowski's ham on rye to which humphris had the film rights. the lawsuit was eventually settled in october 2014 but the film has not been released since **+** bukowski appeared with a cameo in the 1977 movie supervan as the "wet t-shirt contest water boy" **+** tales of ordinary madness (italian: storie di ordinaria follia french: contes de la folie ordinaire) starring ben gazzara and ornella muti is a 1981 film by italian director marco ferreri based on the 1972 collection erections ejaculations exhibitions and general tales of ordinary madness **+** 1971 - post office **+** 1975 - factotum **+** 1978 - women **+** 1982 - ham on rye **+** 1989 - hollywood **+** 1994 - pulp **+** flower fist and bestial wail (1960) **+** it catches my heart in its hands (1963) (title taken from robinson jeffers poem "hellenistics") **+** crucifix in a deathhand (1965) **+** at terror street and agony way (1968) **+** poems written before jumping out of an 8-story window (1968) **+** a bukowski sampler (1969) **+** the days run away like wild horses over the hills (1969) **+** fire station (1970) **+** mockingbird wish me luck (1972) **+** burning in water drowning in flame: selected poems 1955-1973 (1974) **+** maybe tomorrow (1977) **+** love is a dog from hell (1977) **+** play the piano drunk like a percussion instrument until the fingers begin to bleed a bit (1979) **+** dangling in the tournefortia (1981) **+** war all the time: poems 1981-1984 (1984) **+** you get so alone at times that it just makes sense (1986) **+** the roominghouse madrigals (1988) **+** septuagenarian stew: stories & poems (1990) **+** people poems (1991) **+** the last night of the earth poems (1992) **+** betting on the muse: poems and stories (1996) **+** what matters most is how well you walk through the fire. (1999) **+** open all night (2000) **+** the night torn mad with footsteps (2001) **+** slouching toward nirvana (2005) **+** the pleasures of the damned: selected poems 1951-1993 (2007) **+** the continual condition (2009) **+** on cats (2015) **+** on love (2016) **+** storm for the living and the dead (2017) # # short story chapbooks and collections **+** confessions of a man insane enough to live with beasts (1965) **+** notes of a dirty old man (1969) **+** erections ejaculations exhibitions and general tales of ordinary madness (1972) **+** south of no north (1973) **+** hot water music (1983) **+** bring me your love (1983) **+** tales of ordinary madness (1983) **+** the most beautiful woman in town (1983) **+** portions from a wine-stained notebook: short stories and essays (2008) **+** absence of the hero (2010) **+** more notes of a dirty old man (2011) **+** the bell tolls for no one (citylights 2015 edition) **+** on drinking (2019) **+** shakespeare never did this (1979); expanded (1995) **+** the captain is out to lunch and the sailors have taken over the ship (1998) **+** on writing; edited by abel debritto (2015) **+** the mathematics of the breath and the way: on writers and writing; edited by david stephen calonne (city lights 2018) **+** charles bukowski's influence on popular culture **+** bukowski (1973 film) **+** glenn esterly/abe frajndlich (2020.) bukowski. the shooting. by abe frajndlich. hirmer publishers. 67-8 **+** miles barry (2005.) charles bukowski. virgin books. 71-5 **+** brewer gay (1997.) charles bukowski: twayne's united states authors series **+** calonne david stephen (2012.) charles bukowski. reaktion books. 238 **+** charlson david (2005.) charles bukowski: autobiographer gender critic iconoclast. trafford press. 66-4 **+** cherkovski neeli (1991.) hank: the life of charles bukowski **+** dorbin sanford (1969.) a bibliography of charles bukowski black sparrow press **+** duval jean-françois (2002.) bukowski and the beats followed by an evening at buk's place: an interview with charles bukowski. sun dog press **+** fogel al (2000.) charles bukowski: a comprehensive price guide & checklist 1944-1999 **+** fox hugh (1969.) charles bukowski: a critical and bibliographical study **+** harrison russell (1994.) against the american dream: essays on charles bukowski **+** krumhansl aaron (1999.) a descriptive bibliography of the primary publications of charles bukowski. black sparrow press **+** pleasants ben (2004.) visceral bukowski **+** sounes howard (1998.) charles bukowski: locked in the arms of a crazy life **+** wood pamela (2010.) charles bukowski's scarlet. sun dog press. -58-3 **+** roni (2020.) charles bukowski timeline. a special publication of the charles-bukowski-society in cooperation with bukowski.net & michael j. phillips. maroverlag. 23-4 // republic of bob