Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski was a prolific underground writer who used his poetry and prose to depict the depravity of urban life and the downtrodden in American society. A cult hero, Bukowski relied on experience, emotion, and imagination in his work, using direct language and violent and sexual imagery. He was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted home city of Los Angeles. He wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels, eventually publishing over sixty books during the course of his career. He also wrote a column called Notes of a Dirty Old Man for the LA underground newspaper Open City. He was often called the "laureate of American lowlife" by Time magazine. Bukowski was born Heinrich Karl Bukowski in Andernach, Prussia, Weimar Germany. His father was an American of German descent who had served in the U.S. army of occupation after World War I and had remained in Germany after his army service. His mother was a German woman who had met his father during the war. They moved to the United States in 1923, settling in Los Angeles. Bukowski had a difficult childhood marked by poverty, abuse, and alcoholism. He was often bullied at school and suffered from acne and a speech impediment. He began writing at an early age, inspired by authors such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ernest Hemingway, John Fante, and Louis-Ferdinand Céline. He dropped out of college after two years and worked various low-paying jobs such as dishwasher, truck driver, mail carrier, gas station attendant, and warehouse worker. He also spent some time in jail for petty crimes and vagrancy. He developed a serious drinking problem that would plague him for most of his life. Bukowski started publishing his poems and stories in small literary magazines and with small presses in the early 1940s. He gained some recognition among the underground literary scene but remained largely unknown to the mainstream public. He had a brief marriage with Barbara Frye, a wealthy heiress and publisher of a poetry magazine, but they divorced after two years. He also had a long-term relationship with Frances Smith, a widow with whom he had a daughter named Marina. In 1955, he was hospitalized for a near-fatal bleeding ulcer and decided to quit drinking for a while. He resumed writing with more intensity and productivity than ever before. In 1969, Bukowski met John Martin, the founder of Black Sparrow Press, who offered him a monthly stipend to quit his job at the post office and write full-time. This was a turning point in Bukowski's career as he became more prolific and popular than ever before. He published dozens of books with Black Sparrow Press, including Post Office (1971), Factotum (1975), Women (1978), Ham on Rye (1982), and Pulp (1994). He also wrote several screenplays, one of which was adapted into the film Barfly (1987) starring Mickey Rourke as Bukowski's alter ego Henry Chinaski. Bukowski married Linda Lee Beighle in 1985 and moved to San Pedro, California. He continued to write until his death from leukemia in 1994 at the age of 73. He was buried at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. His gravestone reads: "Don't Try", a phrase that Bukowski used to describe his writing philosophy. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and original writers of the 20th century, and his works have been translated into more than 60 languages. He has a loyal and devoted fan base around the world, and his legacy continues to inspire many artists, musicians, and writers. ⁴¹