/lit/ - Literature

Jack Kerouac was "a writer who couldn't write but who got famous because he looked like a rodeo rider."

Maybe Bukowski wasn't such a terrible man after all...

Did someone say Bukowski?!?

TC for the c/lit/s
njis2
Just shooting the shit.

doubles decides my next book, go

Not everyone on /lit/ hates Bukowski, OP.

Post Office was where I started and I enjoyed it. Depending on what you like about it determines where you should go next.

Ham on Rye is about Chinaski's childhood (he is Bukowski's literary alter ego). He grew up in a small town, hijinks ensue, etc.

Factotum is about Chinaski's life as a young man, struggling to make enough money to buy beer and feed his writing habit.

Women takes place after he is a successful author. It follows him on book tours and describes the women he meets.

Hollywood describes the time Bukowski spent filming the movie version of Factotum.

Pulp - it's the last novel but I haven't read it.

Post Office and Ham on Rye were good. Hollywood was readable. Factotum and Women were forgettable.

His short stories are decent. There are a lot of them. The man really was addicted to writing.

His poetry isn't very good if you read it. If you insist on listening to it, download audio or video of his public readings. You get to see him reading poetry to blue-collar types in rough-looking bars. The crowd heckles him between poems and he just screams, "Shut the fuck up!" and continues on. Everyone looks like they're having a good time.

Bukowski's novels were enjoyable, but not literary. His poetry was miserable junk.

That said, I did enjoy his books and would like to find authors who have a similar feel: low-brow, downtrodden, self-loathing, defeatist, ugly, hopeless.

His influences aren't really helpful. It's kind of hard to see how he arrived at his style based on the authors in this image.

Here's to you, Buk. I'll drink cheap beer and slam around on my typewriter in your honor.

His other stuff is much better. Here are his thoughts on other authors, most of them probably taken from Ham on Rye when he discovers the library as a boy.

I've never read any Bukowski but want to start. Is it important to read the authors in the image first, so that I can really understand his writing, message, and philosophy? Where should I begin with those authors, and where should I begin with Bukowski himself?

Here buddy. This is a list of authors mentioned in his novels (not everybody, though. it's an old pic)

Obligatory Bukowski influences pic

He's a good starting point for discovering new authors.

Have you read the authors that influenced your favorite author? Do you even know who those authors are?

pic not really related. I'm not a Bukowski fan (only read Ham on Rye) but this is the only author influences image I've ever seen. The only author on the list I've read is DH Lawrence, Hemingway, and Celine.

His opinions on writers are always pretty good.

I'd say it's Kerouac, because the other big names of the beat movement seemed to have a good amount of talent - particularly Burroughs - but Kerouac really doesn't seem to be so great. Kind of a fashion statement, I guess. But my dad likes On the Road, and he's a genius (IQ-wise, computer-wise, and mathematics-wise), so I guess Kerouac must've been on to something.
Bukowski has kind of a funny take on him, though (pic related)

Jack Kerouac was all about spontaneous writing. Stream of consciousness, all that. Legend has it that he wrote On the Road-- the seminal novel that began the beat generation-- on an explosion of creativity. It is said that he wrote it within a span of three weeks under the influence of drugs and coffee and had it published without revisions. A romantic way of thinking about writing but not at all true. The fact is Jack had outlined the novel in his notebooks for several years before he started writing it. And he was not averse to revisions. The novel underwent several drafts before it found its way to the goateed, beret-wearing, bongo drum-thumping multitude.

I was actually just thinking about how well I could relate to most of Jesse Eisenberg's characters
I feel kinda pathetic about that, actually

my favorite movies are:
Synecdoche, New York
Harold & Maude
Taxi Driver
Thirst (Bakjwi)

Where do I start if I want to read Bukowski's short stories? Where should I start with his poetry?

Sup /lit/ what should I read first? I got

Snow Crash
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Choke
Fight Club
Post Office
The Fountainhead
Anthem
Animal Farm
Catch-22
The Sound and the Fury
The Rum Diary
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Gravity's Rainbow
Slaughterhouse Five
The Stand
No Country for Old Men
Atlas Shrugged
Invisible Man
The Call of Cthulhu
Trainspotting
Lolita
Cat's Cradle
Hell's Angels
Naked Lunch
The Art of War
The Prince
The Anarchists Notebook
Crime and Punishment
Origin of the Species
Special and General Relativity
Guerrilla Warfare
Mein Kampf

try anne sexton. she does a very interesting take on traditional fairy tales. she's a confessionalist poet but her style is very straight forward unlike plath. if you like dr. seuss you might want to try Lewis Carroll who invented nonsense poetry. and if english isn't your first language read poetry written in your first language.

Anymore like this?