What are your thoughts on Bukowski? I have no idea what the general opinion is of him here.
I'm not at all into poetry so I haven't read any of his poems, but I just finished going through all of his novels and I'm finding it a little difficult to adjust back to other authors' writing styles. The brusque, matter of fact prose is effective in my opinion and I'm now finding more purple prose to be tiring. The way he manipulates emotions, from something very funny to something very sad, from loving Chinaski to hating him, is not something I've seen work often. Also, I feel Post Office is by far his best novel, despite a lot of people saying it's Ham and Rye. Ham and Rye is interesting but it doesn't have the same impact as Post Office did, constant emotional whiplash.
I have a feeling he's probably looked down on here for his opinions of the "greats", that they bored him to sleep.
I love his style. very "raw" and not prententious. easy to digest for there's not any layer, just pure juicy imaginative narration. just my opinion though.
Carter Smith
I feel the same, you put it better than I could have. I also find his interviews very interesting. Not only does he sound different than one would expect, but his opinions give a great insight into writing in my opinion. His dry rhythm, every sentence needing to move things along. His novels are not fast paced but there's definitely no filler or purple prose. Pure honesty in every sentence.
>calling someone who likes Bukowski a pseud is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. This guy is the boomer version of rupi kaur.
Easton Cox
No idea who the hell Rupi Kaur is. There's nothing pseud about Bukowski. What you see is what you get with him, not a drop of pretension or hidden meaning. Not sure how you could possibly be a pseud for liking him. Like saying someone is a pseud for liking The Big Sleep.
Benjamin Gomez
I understand the guy who calls Bukowski lovers pseuds, in my country all the hair-dyed teenage sluts read him and go around praising him without either understanding why Bukowski is great or pulling a cock out of their mouths
I started with his "Women" but read 50 pages and got really bored. Then I tried "Ham on Rye" and got one of the most enjoyable reads in my life. I guess it also depends on translation, but I know I should read Bukowski in English to hear the typewriter clicks while reading.
And Bukowski isn't that kind of guy that enjoys high art, he'd rather enjoy something actual, something real and gripping, so no wonder he got bored and no wonder he admits it, it only makes him seem very honest
Isaiah James
Rupi Kaur is an Indian bitch that writes poetry like: "you've touched me without even touching me"
I am not kidding, that's what her poems look like. Her "Milk and Honey" was an international bestseller and all the whiny bitches bought her books cause relatable n shieet
My idea is that someone just decided that this "poet" is going to be the next big thing and advertised the shit out of her because she clearly has no talent or skills to write at least decent poetry
Chase Young
Oh yeah, I understand that first person. I guess I wouldn't call that a pseud though because they aren't pretending to be smart, they're just retards who genuinely don't get it.
Women is one of his weaker books. As I said in OP I think Post Office is his best by far but Ham and Rye is great too. Definitely read in his original English for the rhythm of it. I actually went and read about her after that user mentioned her, then I read all of Milk and Honey online. I'm genuinely blown away by how bad it is. It's not even poetry and it's not even art, truly. I think comparing her to Bukowski is way off the mark. There's not a drop of pretension in Bukowski, and he has a sense of humor. Not the melodramatic slam-poetry style of Kaur at all.
Wyatt Cook
>it was like >bim bim bim >bim bim bim
Benjamin Cruz
Kek Incredibly based because you know precisely what he means but it's hard to put into words. Rhythm doesn't quite fit.
Dylan Anderson
Makes me want to read him. I've never read him and I had no idea he disliked the "classics" so heavily, but now I can see how works of his (and that of the beats who I thought he was a part of but apparently is not) would be such a crazy departure from that. Maybe it's the directness.
Where's a good place to start?
Leo Roberts
all the quotes i've seen from him are terrible.
Jason White
Post Office
People lump him together with beat writers and it's debatable if he was one, but regardless his work is definitely a departure from the classics. Like I said I'm having a very hard time going back to "traditional" books after reading him because there's no wasted time in anything he says but he also doesn't sacrifice any momentum or emotion by being so curt.
Lincoln Thompson
He was pro nazi during WWII
David Howard
Because he was born in Germany and was an incessant contrarian from birth til death. I don't think politics ever really entered his mind.
Anthony Green
I fricking love kick buttowski
Nathan Allen
Based
David Robinson
He looks like a monkey haha
Samuel Watson
I like Bukowski because it's so fun to read. I don't know what that says about me, but I don't know any other writer that gives me so many laughs.
Best novel in my opinion is the one where he talks about his childhood and adolescence. I'm audibly laughing only thinking about it.
Noah Gutierrez
>And Bukowski isn't that kind of guy that enjoys high art He enjoyed Celine and a lot of English translations of Chinese poetry.
Mason Lewis
For me, it's Chuck Bartowski
Isaac Long
also Dostoevski and Tolstoi. According to his autobiographic novel he read an entire book every night to escape his depressive situation
