1B: Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski (1920-1994), 
Los Angeles writer and one-time U.S. postal worker.

What can we read by Charles Bukowski in English 1B? Here's one: "my old man."  How many books did Bukowski write?  Dozens and dozens.  Short stories. Novels.  Poetry. Letters. He wrote a screenplay, too. Go to these sites to learn more about him: "Celebrating Charles Bukowski, 'poet laureate of L.A. lowlife,'"  "Moving beyond the Charles Bukowski American lowlife cliche" and Bukowski at the Poetry Foundaiton.  Go here to get a partial list of his publications. He is also extensively represented on YouTube.  Just go there and search his name. There is one documentary about Bukowski called Born Into This. You'll learn that he "was appalled by Mickey Mouse," his time at the post office, and the importance of publisher John Martin on his writing career.

After reading Bukowski's "my old man"  in class one day, I thought I'd resurrect a post from the Huntington Libary, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens  exhibition of Bukowski's books, drawings, and letters that ran through February 14, 2011.  It seems like an odd place for Bukowski's papers to end up, but so be it.  The place that has 14,000 different kinds of plants, paintings by Thomas Gainsborough and Mary Cassatt, paintings of "Blue Boy" and "Pinkie," historical documents like the Gutenberg Bible and letters by Washington and Lincoln, is now keeping company with Bukowski's papers.

Bukowski and his wife Linda at the races.
 A more likely place for his papers.
  Photograph by Michael Montfort

A Bukowski drawing of life at the racetrack.

The world is a funny place. Bukowski once said as much: "Man, man, it’s a funny world. We’ve got everything, but we can’t have it."



It's not likely that a joke or advice can be deciphered in the Huntington's Bukowski press kit with information about the 2001 exhibition. But who knows? Turn to the Bukowski page and Bukowski American Author on the web, and read  to learn more about him.

Now for some other Bukowski in the news: The FBI kept a file on Bukowski, as reported by Emily Keeler in the Los Angeles Times, September 9, 2013. To read the story go here.  

Charles Bukowski, aka Buk, the artist.