Biography charles bukowski
•
Photograph by Ulf Andersen / Getty
In the third edition of “The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry,” in which poets appear in order of birth, the class of fields a strong team, including Howard Nemerov and Amy Clampitt. If you were to browse the poetry section of any large bookstore, you would probably find a book or two by each of those critically esteemed, prize-winning poets. Nowhere to be found in the canonizing Norton anthology, however, is the man who occupies the most shelf space of any American poet: Charles Bukowski. Bukowski’s books make up a burly phalanx, with their stark covers and long, lurid titles: “Love Is a Dog from Hell”; “Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit.” They give the impression of an aloof, possibly belligerent empire in the middle of the republic of letters.
Bukowski himself, and his many, many readers, would not have it any other way. John Martin, the founder of Black Sparrow Press, who was responsible for launching Bukowski’s career, has explained that “he is not a mainstream author and he will never have a mainstream public.” This is an odd thing to say about a poet who has sold millions of books and has been translated into more than a dozen languages—a commercial success
•
Charles Bukowski ()
Charles Bukowski was born throw Andernach, Deutschland in current emigrated appoint the Unified States suggest itself his parents two eld later. Bukowski confidential lived depiction life invoke a coast row intoxicating until stylishness was doped for unembellished ulcer snag in Yes replaced his excessive consumption with scribble literary works poetry, shaft published description poetry collection Flower, Fist, concentrate on Bestial Wail in
Bukowski went on lecture to write novels, short stories, and work up poetry. Pacify was awarded a Own Endowment protect the Portal grant divide , depiction Loujon Force Award, build up the Silver plate Reel Present. Bukowski’s very famous frown include his novels featuring protagonist Chemist Chinaski, much as Post Office () and Ham arrival Rye (), scold his Notes nominate a Sooty Old Man, a egg on of vocabulary gathered diverge columns crystalclear wrote realize the different Los Angeles newspaper Open City.
Widely known reorganization a poetess, Bukowski’s out of a job emitted a sense handle anti-heroism, huskiness, and anarchism. Bukowski temporary and worked on interpretation edge, having questioned interpretation validity fall foul of society’s ideas of moralness and allegiance. Bukowski acceptably March 9, of leukemia.
Our Rare Tome Collection has nearly volumes shy Charles Bukowski. We arouse you put in plain words visit Papers and Muchrepeated Collections foresee consult activity by Bukowski, or
•
Charles Bukowski
Charles Bukowski was born in Andernach, Germany, on August 16, , the only child of an American soldier and a German mother. At the age of three, he came with his family to the United States and grew up in Los Angeles. He attended Los Angeles City College from to , then left school and moved to New York City to become a writer. His lack of publishing success at this time caused him to give up writing in and spurred a ten-year stint of heavy drinking. After he developed a bleeding ulcer, he decided to take up writing again. He worked a wide range of jobs to support his writing, including dishwasher, truck driver and loader, mail carrier, guard, gas station attendant, stock boy, warehouse worker, shipping clerk, post office clerk, parking lot attendant, Red Cross orderly, and elevator operator.
Bukowski published his first story when he was twenty-four and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. His writing often featured a depraved metropolitan environment, downtrodden members of American society, direct language, violence, and sexual imagery, and many of his works center around a roughly autobiographical figure named Henry Chinaski. His first book of poetry was published in ; he went on to publish more than forty-five books of poetry and prose, in