My Favourite Writer: Poet Edition
Charles Bukowski, the well-known poet and writer, was a complex character with often contradictory traits. He was a romantic who yearned love, and yet a realist. His cynicism and wit carried through to all of his writing and his irascible demeanour undoubtedly echoes in his writing.
A self-professed womanising drunk, Bukowski relied on a range of vices in order to fuel his creativity, “Drink, fuck, and smoke plenty of cigarettes.” His dark sense of humour lingers in his writing. Deeply troubled, Bukowski gives a glimpse into his often deeply hidden emotions and the torment caused by depression in the poem Bluebird,
“There’s a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I’m not going to let anybody see you.”
Bukowski wrote thousands of poems and hundreds of short stories, along with six novels, publishing over sixty books. His writing was very much based on the cultural, social and economic ambience of his home town, L.A. He analysed everyday life and everything that goes with it. He had a documentary style of story telling, an anthropologist, who studied the world of work and relationships. His writing focused largely on real life relationships, what can be learnt from friendships, and the art and poetry that can be found from everyday seemingly mundane life.
Post Office was Bukowski’s very first novel in 1971. The novel was heavily autobiographical, with a main character with a pseudonym, Henry Chinaski, that was undoubtedly similar to his real name, Henry Charles Bukowski, Jr. The character, Chinaski, had a humdrum role working at LA Post Office. The novel had a iconic opening line, “It began as a mistake.” Bukowski’s fourth, and largely popular, novel in 1982, Ham on Rye focuses on tales of an abusive father, terrible acne and first experiences with alcohol.
Love is often the main theme of Bukowski’s works, but not in a cliché, romantic sense, with one of his novels titled Love is a Dog from Hell. More so, a yearning for love and companionship. “And we are in bed together laughing and we don't care about anything…” His writing is emotive and often gives the reader a tangible sense of the love he craves. A further sense of the variety of emotions poured into his work.
Don’t Try
Bukowski’s work has been an inspiration for many writers. Notably Bukowski was referenced in Mark Manson’s bestselling alternative life advice book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. The first chapter was dedicated to Charles Bukowski and the so-called success of his failure. The chapter focuses largely on Bukowski’s theory of life,
“Somebody once asked me what my theory of life was, and I said ‘Don’t try.’ That fits the writing, too. I don’t try; I just type.”
‘Don’t Try’ can be seen on Bukowski’s gravestone in Los Angeles. Manson believes Bukowski embodied the American dream, after years of writing, and subsequent knockbacks, he didn't give up on his dreams. Although rather than basing his success on this determination, Bukowski bases his success on the fact that he was aware that he was a loser, he was okay with it and he subsequently knew how to exploit his identity in his writing.
According to Manson, the success of Bukowski comes from often being classed as a failure, yet coming to terms with it. Bukowski used his outsider status to his advantage, and it was the stand-point from which he based the entirety of his writing, this ultimately led to the cult fan-following he has to this day. Manson goes on to explain although often they go hand in hand, self-improvement and success don’t always have correlation. Bukowski being the prime example.
The Death and Legacy of Charles Bukowski
With his death in 1994, behind him Bukowski leaves a large, unique and distinct body of work that is widely loved. With the large collection of transgressive literacy left in his legacy, it is hard to read only one Bukowski without needing to find out more. John Martin from Black Sparrow Press, the man responsible for launching Bukowski’s career stated, “he is not a mainstream author and he will never have a mainstream public.”
This is a strange statement when referring to an author that has sold millions of books. But, the people who relate to his writing, feel they need to read more, Bukowski was an outsider, who wrote as an outsider. Those who connect with one piece of writing, or a particular novel of his, want to discover more of his view on the world.
Bukowski died of leukaemia on March 9th, 1994, shortly after completing his last novel, Pulp. He was aged 73.
“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.”
Written by Joan Nugent
Joan is a Northern Ireland-born, Manchester-based Editorial Production Coordinator. Joan’s favourite writing topic is equality (particularly equality issues for LGBTQIA+ people in Northern Ireland). With a degree in Film and Media Studies, when not writing Joan is usually watching all sorts of films.
