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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 14 KB, 270x313, Bukowski.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1891378 No.1891378 [Reply] [Original]

Where do I start with Bukowski? All I know of by him is Nirvana, and it really blew my mind (thanks Tom Waits).

>> No.1891382

bump

>> No.1891387

I enjoyed Women, Post Office, and .. cant remember the name of it, but it was a collection of his short stories. One of which is right up any 4channers alley .. told from the P.O.V of a guy who watches 2 kids play, then locks them in a garage and fucks the little girl. Brutal and effective, and way ahead of his time

>> No.1891407

>>1891387

Was it one of these:

Notes of a Dirty Old Man (1969)
Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness (1972) I
South of No North (1973)
Hot Water Music (1983)
Tales of Ordinary Madness (1983)
The Most Beautiful Woman in Town (1983)

>> No.1891413
File: 10 KB, 300x450, henrymiller.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1891413

Start with Tropic of Cancer.

>> No.1891424

>>1891407
after a quick google for "bukowski child rape", it seems it was "the most beautiful woman in town"

>> No.1891426

>>1891424
Thanks bro.

>> No.1891430

>>1891378
>>1891378

For me bukawski's poems summed up....
Go to the tiolet
take a shit
look at the shit
see everyone in the world shitting
see some of them looking at their shit too
see shit as the only thing connecting all of humanity
flush the tiolet


I prefer his shot stories- hot water music - is a good collection.

Also barfly a movie he wrote is pretty good.

>> No.1891441

>>1891426
no prob man, /lit/ seems to hate on Bukowski a bit sometimes, so happy to help someone discover him

>> No.1891456

>>1891430
Seconded. Chuck can nail it home in a short story. His poetry and his novels though don't really do it for me. I read Ham on Rye right after reading HWM. Ham on Rye is biographical and he writes about his childhood up to his young adulthood, but I was less impressed than I was with his short stories

>> No.1891462

>>1891430
I've never seen someone sum up Bukowski so good before.

>> No.1891481

Fucktotum

>> No.1891584

>>1891430
He had a few poems that stood out, though.

Bluebird, The Genius of the Crowd, Freedom, To the Whore Who Took My Poems, Death Wants More Death, Born Into This, etc. are good ones to read sometimes.

Also, Ham on Rye is his best novel.

And his short stories are good.

>> No.1891587

>>1891584
if Ham on Rye is his best, I'd hate to see his worst.

>> No.1891590

>>1891584
such a lame book it was all just "hey you're henry chinaski arent you? man youre pretty badass and tough, and I want to suck your dick"

then he goes and drinks, and pops pimples and thinks hes so deep and edgy

fuck that hipster bullshit

>> No.1891601

Seriously one of the best American short story writers of all time, by far his strongest medium

>> No.1891604

I really enjoy that story where he gets drunk and swears a lot. What's that one called again?

>> No.1891605

>>1891587
His worst is probably Pulp.

>>1891590
Whether trolling or not, to me it was just honest. Also, he doesn't have sex throughout the whole novel, so I'm just going to assume that you're a troll.

>> No.1891606

>>1891605
Also, he isn't popular in the book.

>> No.1891608

>>1891605
I didn't mean literal dick-sucking. It's just so self-masturbatory, every single character in the book ends up loving him, and thinking he's super tough and awesome. He's a goddamn Gary Sue.

>> No.1891611

>>1891606
He is fairly well-liked in the book, I think you might need to re-read it. I can't tell you how many other stories of his I've read where a guy literally walks up to him out of the blue and says "Hey, you're Chinaski, right? I like your stories."

Almost every damned one.

>> No.1891612

>>1891605
>doesnt share the same opinion as me

>must be a troll

I DONT THINK TROLL MEANS WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS

>> No.1891614

>>1891611
The novel is set before he's famous, bro.

And not really. He has a close group of friends that he doesn't like and a friend who's a fellow author and leaves to join the military. And a bunch of people who want to beat his ass.

Not really a social icon.

>> No.1891620

>>1891608

Dude, every single character in HOR hates his guts. Even his own mother and father can't stand him. I'd say its easily his best novel and although his short stories can really be phenomenal I'd say it might be his best work overall. To say any of his stuff is self masturbatory is misguided in my opinion because its pretty obvious in most everything he writes that he has serious self image issues and a lot of distain for his own personality and actions. Anyways, I liked him a lot when I was in high school and although I won;t go back and read all of his stuff like I did back then, I'd say its safe to say he is one of the better "pulpy" hard and honest writers of that time.

>> No.1891621

>>1891612
I pondered whether he actually read the book or was just trying to incite a negative response.

And I was probably mislead to believe so by a misinterpretation. I made a mistake, and it will be okay.

>> No.1891625
File: 62 KB, 300x517, 2394501774_c6f59e992d_o.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1891625

>>1891614
>somebody has to be famous for people to like them
>>1891620
Yes, his parents hated him. But he had a lot of friends, and even some nazi friends in the book.

Mind you, he was not without enemies. But Henry Chinaski, in the majority of stories, is a pretty popular guy with a pretty badass attitude, who drinks a lot and everybody wants to be him and etc etc etc etc etc etc

pic related it's bukowski and one the hot bitches he banged

>> No.1891635

>>1891625
He didn't like or choose any of his friends except for the fellow author, who knocked him out in a fight in a hotel room.

Henry Chinaski was liked by more people as he got older, however Ham on Rye was written pretty late in his career, so I just think he got more honest about himself.

As for his love life, one of the girls he wrote about in "Women" wrote a short story about how he lied about their time spent together and that was actually a nice guy from what she could tell. It's called "Blowing My Hero" or some shit.

So even though he fictionalizes a lot, I believe he probably did have sex with a lot of old-school hipster type girls, and that many of them were probably pretty.

That being said, he's stated that he felt nothing for any of them and the kindest woman he ever met was a short, chubby nurse in HoR. He also fantasized about being with her.

>> No.1891651

>>1891625
I was replying to his statement about people knowing him for his work.

Since he wasn't known for his work at the time, it obviously didn't happen in Ham on Rye.

>> No.1891652

>>1891651
Or your statement.

Ya' know the drill.