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I discovered Bukowski while at college in SoCal -- not too far away from the man's favorite horse track, actually. I've always preferred his prose (mainly short stories) to his poetry, myself...but both draw from the same autobiographical well.
Because Bukowski's work is autobiographical, and because he portrays life as seen on the street and in bars, slums, and gutters, some people have compared him to the Beats. In fact, his writing has much more in common with Henry Miller. Both authors take a kind of joy in portraying their troubles and flaws--poverty, drunkenness, and sexual obsession cheif among them. Like Miller, Bukowski writes at length about women and sex, and he has been called obscene and misogynistic for the same reasons that Miller was.
But Bukowski doesn't write like Miller does. Bukowski writes like a Hemingway who never made it out of Chicago. An Earth-2 Hemingway, with the same thirst for booze and short temper, the same "life's a bitch and then you die" attitude -- but stuck sorting boxes instead of running with the bulls, and vacationing on Skid Row instead of on safari.
I enjoy Bukowski because his work has a strong (and delibarate) existentialist streak -- the absurdity and hopelessness of life isn't just a concept he discusses, but a reality that he portrays in his own life and those of the people around him. His writing is rude, profound, bitter, touching and laugh-out-loud funny--often all at the same time. There's a good anthology of his work, called "Run with the Hunted", with selections from almost all of his books, if you want to see what he's about...and since Bukowski was a very prolific author, there's plenty more out there if you get hooked. |
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