Charles Bukowski - biography, information, personal life. Bukowski - a dirty realist Poetry and prose

Years of life: from 08/16/1920 to 03/09/1994

American poet, writer, essayist and screenwriter. A cult figure in the literary underground. Literary critics classify Bukowski’s work as belonging to the “dirty realism” movement.

Charles Bukowski (birth name Heinrich Karl Bukowski) was born in the German city of Andernach. His mother, a German, was a seamstress, his father was a sergeant in the American army who served in Germany during the First World War and had German roots. The economic crisis of 1923 forced the family to move to the United States. The writer's childhood can hardly be called happy. The family lived quite poorly, Charles’s American peers treated him poorly, and his father constantly beat him “for educational purposes.” The suffering he endured also affected the boy’s physical health - at the age of 13, Charles began to develop severe inflammation of the sebaceous glands - acne. Pimples covered the entire face, arms, back, and were even located in the oral cavity. Against the backdrop of a difficult family situation and difficulties in communicating with classmates, Charles began visiting the Los Angeles Public Library, where he became seriously interested in reading, which remained one of his main hobbies for the rest of his life. The future writer's first attempt at writing dates back to this time: Charles tried alcohol early and quickly became addicted to it. According to Bukowski’s own words: “I liked being drunk. I realized that I would love drinking forever. It distracted from reality.” His passion for alcohol largely determined the writer’s future life and the themes of his work. After graduating from high school, Bukowski briefly attended Los Angeles City College, studying English and journalism, and continued to write short stories. In 1940, the father discovered manuscripts hidden in his son's room and, angry at their contents, threw them out along with all of Charles's belongings.

As a protest, Bukowski left his parents' home and began spending most of his free time in drinking establishments, and was soon expelled from college. In 1941, after working for about six months in various low-paying jobs, Charles decided to travel around America. During his travels, Bukowski visited New Orleans, Atlanta, Texas, San Francisco and many other cities. Living and working wherever the writer had to, he drank a lot and socialized with the lowest social strata. At the same time, Bukowski first tried to publish his works. The story "Aftermath of a Lengthy Rejection Slip" was accepted by Story magazine, and Charles made a special trip to New York to see it published. However, the story was published on the last pages, not in the main part of the publication, which greatly disappointed Bukowski. After this, Bukowski published several more poems and stories. The magazine publications did not generate any response, and Charles gave up writing for 10 years. In 1945, Bukowski returned to Los Angeles and began living with his parents.

At the age of twenty-seven, in one of the city bars, Charles met Jane Cooney Baker, a thirty-eight-year-old alcoholic, whom he married. Subsequently, Baker became one of the most important people who inspired the work of Bukowski, who said of her: “She became the first woman - in general, the first person who brought me at least a little love.” In 1952, Bukowski took a job as a mail carrier for the United States Postal Service (where he worked for more than ten years). In 1955, due to constant drunkenness, the writer was hospitalized with a bleeding stomach ulcer and almost died. After that (despite the doctors being locked up), Bkowski did not stop drinking, but returned to literature. In 1955, he divorced Baker and that same year he married again, this time to the editor of a small Texas magazine, Barbara Fry. Their family life did not work out and the couple separated in 1958. Gradually, Bukowski's works begin to be published, and in 1963 the first book of his poems was published. A new love affair dates back to the same period - in 1963, Charles met Frances Smith, with whom he had a daughter a year later; Bukowski separated from Smith in 1965. In 1967, Bukowski accepted an offer to write an opinion column for the Open City newspaper, “Notes of a Dirty Old Man,” which brought him some fame. In parallel with this, about ten more small books with Bukowski’s poems are published in various publishing houses and he is gaining popularity as a poet.

In 1970, one of Bukowski’s admirers, John Martin, decided to become the main publisher of the 50-year-old writer’s works and organized the Black Sparrow Press publishing house. Martin invites Charles to leave the post office and devote himself to literature, while promising to pay him at least $100 a month for the rest of his life, regardless of what he writes. Bukowski accepted the offer. Bukowski's first major work after leaving the post office was the novel The Post Office (1971), which he wrote in three weeks. The novel became Bukowski's first great success as a writer - the book gained enormous popularity in Europe and was subsequently translated into more than fifteen languages. Among other things, only during the work on “The Post Office” did Bukowski finally develop his author’s writing style, which he would subsequently adhere to in all his prose works. The writer's first novel received mostly positive reviews in the press. After the success of “The Post Office,” Bukowski took up literature with renewed energy: Black Sparrow Press regularly publishes collections of his poetry and prose, and in addition, the writer collaborates with several magazines. Bukowski's next three novels: Factotum (1975), Women (1978) and Bread and Ham (1982) were also autobiographical and strengthened the writer's success. While writing The Women, Bukowski met his last wife, diner owner Linda Lee Begley. In 1987, Bukowski took part in writing the script for the film “The Drunk,” the plot of which also has many parallels with the life of the writer, and two years later the novel “Hollywood” was published. Since 1988, Bukowski has been seriously ill, however, the writer continues to work, claiming that he will stop only when he dies. In 1993, the writer’s health rapidly deteriorated, the immune system, destroyed by alcohol and a disorderly lifestyle, stopped working - Bukowski was diagnosed with pneumonia, then leukemia. In 1994, the writer died, having managed to finish his last novel: “Waste Paper” shortly before his death.

The writer considered politics pointless; Bukowski never voted. He said the following: “Politics is like women: you get carried away by it seriously, and in the end it turns out that you are a kind of earthworm, crushed by a docker’s shoe.”

In addition to alcohol, which Bukowski had a craving for throughout his life, the writer's two other passions were classical music and horse racing.

In articles dedicated to Ch. Bukowski and his work, the writer is often classified as a beatnik. However, later researchers note that Bukowski, in essence, never belonged to them. Bukowski himself said on this matter: “People ask me all the time about Kerouac, and don’t I really know Neal Cassady, have I been with Ginsberg, and so on. And I have to admit: no, I tried all the beatniks...”

In the United States of America and Europe, where Bukowski gained the greatest popularity, he is primarily perceived as a poet. The author himself said that he came to this form for a banal reason - poetry for him was less of a waste of time. Bukowski himself made virtually no distinction between prose and poetry in his works.

Bukowski has repeatedly admitted that he wrote, for the most part, while intoxicated.

American writer Charles Bukowski was a genius. He drank more than necessary, had more mistresses than is considered decent, did not work where it was prestigious to work, did not live as is accepted in society. He never wrote about what was pleasant to read about. There is bitterness in his lyrics. A laborer, a drunkard, and one of the smartest writers of the second half of the 20th century.

Childhood and youth

Charles Bukowski (real name Heinrich Karl Bukowski) was born in Andernach, Germany on August 16, 1920. Henry's mother was a seamstress, and his father served in the American army. In 1923, due to the economic crisis, the family was forced to move to the United States, to the city of Baltimore, and a year later they moved to Los Angeles. He took the name Charles later, when he left his parents' home.

The father raised his son quite harshly, which is described in detail in the autobiographical novel “Bread and Ham.” For the slightest offense, he beat Bukowski with a razor belt. The mother could not do anything, since she also often got it. As a result of the total fear in which the life of the future writer passed, at the age of 13 he developed a severe disease of the sebaceous glands. Charles's entire body was covered with acne, which caused him to experience psychological discomfort.

Problems at home and school led to Bukowski withdrawing from the world. His favorite pastime was visiting the library, where he became seriously interested in American authors. His favorite writers were John Fante, William Saroyan and Ernest Hemingway. As a teenager, one of his friends introduced Charles to al

Kogol, who became a faithful companion of his life for many years. As Bukowski later wrote, he liked to get drunk because it distracted him from reality.

One day, when Charles was 16 years old, he came home drunk and his father decided to teach him a lesson. He resisted and hit his father in the jaw. Since then, he has never touched his son. After graduating from high school, Bukowski briefly attended college in Los Angeles. At the same time, he began to write his first stories and poems. Disillusioned with his studies, Charles dropped out of college and left his parents' home. For six months he worked in various low-paying jobs, and spent his free time in drinking establishments. In 1941, Bukowski decided to travel around America and write about “real life.”

Writer's career

To find out what Charles Bukowski really was like, just read any of his stories or novels. In one of his interviews, he said this about himself: “I’m an unpleasant person - everyone knows this. I admire scoundrels, sons of bitches, robbers. I don’t like clean-shaven boys who work decent jobs. I like desperate people, with crazy heads, knocked out teeth and a broken life. I am also attracted to op

fussing women, drunken bitches with painted faces and slipping stockings. It’s easy for me to get along with tramps because I’m a tramp too. I don't like rules, morals, laws and religion. And I won’t let society remake me in its own way.”

Bukowski was a rebel who loved freedom, alcohol and writing. His life, filled with drunkenness, depraved women and constant fights, is legendary. In fact, for a long time he was homeless, because he had neither a permanent place of residence nor a permanent job. Only at the age of 50 did he begin to show the features of a civilized person.

For a long time, Charles Bukowski published his stories and poems in the Open City newspaper, for which he received pennies. The meeting with John Martin, who liked the poet’s poems so much that he organized the Black Sparrow Press publishing house, turned out to be fateful. Martin suggested that Bukowski quit his job at the post office and devote himself entirely to creativity. For this, the publishing house promised to pay him $100 a month for the rest of his life, regardless of whether he wrote anything. Charles agreed.

In 1971, the writer’s first novel, “The Post Office,” was published, which won

likely popularity in the US and Europe. Critics also gave him good marks, noting that Bukowski’s style is very frank, open, and with a bit of humor. Separately, they noted the detail and suggested that the author was influenced by Fante and Hemingway.

In 1975, the novel “Factotum” was published, and in 1978, “Women”. They were well received by the public and cemented Bukowski's status as a cult writer. Collections of poems and stories were also published, which gained no less popularity. Bukowski himself was skeptical of his fame and even hated it. When the famous philosopher Jean Paul Sartre called him America's greatest poet, Charles responded: "To say that I am a poet is to classify me with the company of neon gourmands, scoundrels and suckers who masquerade as sages."

Last years

Bukowski was never able to get rid of his alcohol addiction, despite the fact that he was hospitalized several times with severe internal hemorrhages. True, in the last years of his life he did not drink too much. In 1982, the novel “Bread and Ham” was published, in which Charles described his childhood. In the book "Hollywood" (1989), the writer spoke about his experience as a screenwriter.

hundred paintings "Drunken". The film's plot centers on Bukowski's early years and his development as a writer. About the filming of Drunk, he put it this way: “Hollywood is four hundred times worse than you might have heard. I’m just sure that after the book comes out, they’ll sue me.”

Charles Bukowski is also known for his love affairs. He had many women, three of whom became his legal spouses. His last wife, Linda Lee Begley, remained by his side until the last days of his life.

Since the late 80s, the writer was seriously ill. His immune system was destroyed, so the diseases followed one after another. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, and some time later he was diagnosed with leukemia. On March 9, 1994, Charles Bukowski passed away. His epitaph is engraved on his tombstone: “Don’t try.”

Charles Bukowski entered literature in a very loud, revolutionary, rebellious way, although he himself never took writing seriously. He always insisted that he should just write and leave. Outrage, cynicism, disdain for others and himself were his irritants for the crowd: he was praised and hated, but Bukowski didn’t care. He chose freedom and worshiped only it

Biography

Bukowski American writer beatism

Charles Bukowski- American writer, poet, writer, journalist, supporter of the aesthetics of direct and brutal ontological honesty, developed by the beatniks, bohemian and marginal circles of America in the 40-60s - representatives of the so-called “naturalistic” school.

After an episode from his school life, when the teacher praised in front of the class a story written by Chinaski (the main character of the novel, the author’s alter ego) about a fictitious meeting with President Hoover, not at all embarrassed by the fact that it was a complete “fake,” he made an important conclusion for himself :

So that's what they really need: lies. A wonderful lie.

The active reluctance of others to see the unpleasant truth, the escape from it into various forms of social games, becomes for Bukowski a life experience that later affected his character, determined his fate and the general direction of his work.

After graduating from high school in 1939-1941, he studied at Los Angeles City College, studying journalism and English. At the beginning of World War II, he dropped out of college, went to New York, then to Philadelphia, where he was declared unfit for military service by psychiatrists due to “antisociality.” He wandered around the country, doing odd jobs. He worked in a slaughterhouse, on a railroad repair crew, in the American Red Cross - in more than a hundred places in different cities and states. Starving and limiting himself to one chocolate bar a day, he wrote 4-5 stories and poems a week and, having copied them by hand in block letters, sent them to various magazines. The stories were returned, and only in 1944 two of them were published in the magazines History and Portfolio.

After this, he took a break from writing for ten years. These years were spent wandering “among people” and gaining personal experience. He leads a wandering or, as they say, chaotic lifestyle - short love and sexual relationships, alcoholism, showdowns with casual acquaintances and a constant search for easy small earnings. He is surrounded mainly by people of the “bottom” - despairing people who do not find any worthy meaning in their existence. In Bukowski’s mind, at least they didn’t lie, didn’t turn a blind eye to what they didn’t want to see, and in this sense they were much closer to the “truth of life,” i.e. to its deep ontology than professors and other learned people. This period of life ended for the writer in the charity ward of the Los Angeles County Hospital, where he was admitted with a bleeding stomach ulcer - he was given a blood transfusion and was strongly recommended to undergo surgery.

After his stay in the hospital, he returns to writing - when he comes home from work, he writes poetry and sends it to poetry magazines. One of the issues of Harlequin magazine was composed entirely of his poems, and a trip to Texas and an acquaintance with the editor of the magazine ended with marriage and the birth of his daughter Marina in 1955; True, their life together did not last long. Bukowski continues to lead his usual lifestyle and writes a lot. Now he has more luck with publications. His stories are published in the Evergreen Review, and the California Society of Poetry Lovers Eureka publishes them on mimeograph in an edition of 200 copies. his first 30-page collection of poetry is Flower, Fist, and Bestial Wail, followed by Longshot Poems for Broke Players. The main collections of poetry that attracted the attention of critics and readers to his work were published by a small private publishing house, Lujon Press.

Bukowski's first books - collections of stories and poems - were mainly published in private independent publishing houses, the owners of which were independent enough not to be led by the assessments of the literary establishment. Bukowski's works were the complete opposite of the refined intellectual passages that were then accepted as a literary model.

The New Orleans publishing house Lujohn Press was founded by the Webb spouses, writer John Edgar and artist Gypsy, and was primarily involved in publishing Bukowski's works from 1954 to 1967. Their publishing practice began with the publication of two poetry collections by Bukowski: It Catches My Heart in Its Hands with a foreword by Louisiana University professor J.W. Corrington, containing an appraisal of his poetry, and Crucifix in a Deathhand. The collections were typed by hand on thin multi-colored textured paper in a limited edition (now a bibliographic rarity). Biographer Neil Tschirkowski writes about the impact of this collection - it "caused a real shock wave in the poetic world. Everything helped Bukowski's reputation to make a quantum leap - the print, the paper, the binding, that introductory word from Bill Corrington: the poetry itself matched the loving care of production ".

In the early 60s, Lujon Press published the well-known left-wing radical magazine "The Outsider" - a total of 6 issues were published. In the table of contents of the first issue (1961) you can find the names of almost all the leading beat writers - J. Kerouac, G. Miller, W. Burroughs, etc. In the first issue of "The Outsider" one of the first collections of 11 short poems by Bukowski was published. By the mid-60s, hundreds of small poetry magazines were already eager to publish his poems. In 1966, according to the results of a survey by Outsider magazine, Bukowski was awarded the title of “Outsider of the Year.”

Neal Cirkowski's critically acclaimed biography Hank: The Life of Charles Bukowski (1999), whose author personally met his idol at age 16 after reading The Outsider and his first collections of poetry, described a unique phenomenon of the time - the friendship of two writers from different cities:

During those “outsider” years, there were only two true outsider cities in the States: Bukowski’s Los Angeles and John Webb’s New Orleans. The Webbs represented Bukowski in the same ranks with the beatniks: for Bukowski truly emerged from the worldview of the 40s, giving a voice to the voiceless. After this, Edgar Webb combined the perceptions of this author with the works of writers of the 50s, and Walter Lowenfels formalized the views of this radical leftist movement in literature in his letters. It was: a bohemian and underground attitude.

At this time, Bukowski was known mainly as a poet, writing energetic, unnerving poetry, full of wit and bitter bitterness, partly reminiscent of Walt Whitman, partly the "automatic writing" of the surrealists and beatniks.

First of all, his poetry was too rough and raw. On the other hand, he made it simple and accessible.

Bukowski’s poetry is the product of the philosophy of vagrancy of the 20th century; it combined the search for the foundations of one’s own existence, a reluctance to be included in the “vanity fair” of his time and an aimless “drift” with the flow of life.

At the same time, the sad heroes and heroines of the prose of this “poet of alienation and writer of genuine fulfillment” (K. Resroth) - criminals, prostitutes, gamblers, drunks, inhabitants of slums and Los Angeles bars - were perceived by critics more seriously than his poems.

The American language, as Bukowski hears it, is in fact quite easy to “nail to paper” - it is so concrete and “tightly fitted.”

His style was compared to E. Hemingway - Bukowski also preferred simple adjectives, words and paragraphs were short and “to the point.”

Sometimes Bukowski is called a beatnik, sometimes a naturalist, but he wrote as if he were a plumber.

He despised "linden" and pretentiousness and cringed at overly pretentious literary usages. The style is simple and straightforward, the phrases are laconic and focused, no metaphors or allusions. His motto is: "I like to say what I have to say and fuck off."

In 1966, in Santa Rosa, John Martin, an ardent admirer of Bukowski's work, founded the Black Sparrow publishing house, primarily to publish Bukowski's works - autobiographical sketches, everyday stories, observations, poems. This is where his collections At Terror Street and Agony Way, The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills, etc. were published in the 60s. Since Bukowski needed money and was constantly looking for income, John Martin in 1969 offered to pay him $100 a month so that he does not get distracted from writing. Bukowski was extremely pleased with this offer.

Now “Black Sparrow” has 23 titles of Bukowski’s works in its portfolio; it is one of the most respected independent publishing houses in the United States. His books can be recognized by the characteristic design of loose multi-colored covers - ascetic font compositions in the spirit of Russian constructivism. Income from Buk's books still accounts for about a third of the publishing house's 800,000 annual sales. “He helped me build my publishing business, I helped him become a successful writer and a wealthy man. It’s true - Hank died as a scourge, but not a poor scourge,” noted John Martin, who at one time worked in a goods delivery company , so that his start-up publishing house could print books by the little-known Charles Bukowski.

At the beginning of 1970, at the age of 50, Bukowski wrote the novel “The Post Office” in 20 days, which tells about the monotonous, mind-numbing everyday life of Henry Chinaski, who works at the post office - in fact, the constant protagonist of his works. It is based on Bukowski's real life experience - in 1958 he himself worked as a mail sorter. Noting the appearance of “The Post Office,” some critics noted that the sum of the episodes described in it never formed a single whole, while others believed that such a “ragged” narrative reflected the aimlessness of the protagonist’s life. According to John Martin, Bukowski's first novel sold 75 thousand copies in the United States, and 500 thousand copies worldwide.

Between 1969 and 1972, Bukowski and Tschirkowski published three collections of poems. In 1974, Bukowski received a National Endowment for the Arts scholarship and moved into an apartment in Hollywood. He works part-time for men's magazines, including Hustler, as well as for the underground newspapers Los Angeles Free Press, Nola Express and Open City, where he writes the column "Notes from an Old Dog" - trashing the hippies who adore him.

The next novel, Factotum, describes the adventures of Henry Chinaski, who is sincerely trying to find a suitable permanent job (Factotum is a journeyman, a jack of all trades). Compared to previous works, his image is given in more detail. Chinaski devalues ​​his high aspirations and reduces them to ridiculous stiffness, preferring the company of drunkards and all sorts of “unsettled” people. In their loneliness, they support each other simply by being nearby. At the same time, a craving for the “high” is present in their lives, sometimes coloring it in tragic tones. She pushes them to alcohol:

Without the kir, I would have cut my own throat a long time ago. Drinking is a form of suicide where you are allowed to go back to life and start all over again the next day.

Then his novels “Women” (1978), “Bread with Ham” (1982), collections Africa, Paris, Greece, All the Assholes in the World and Mine, etc. were published. They again describe forays into the world of hard workers, covens, whores and bartenders. His hero is tired of political correctness and this “plastic culture”, where everyone lies to each other and where you can’t get a simple honest word. One joy is a good drink, a sympathetic girlfriend and a couple of coins for betting at the races. In the novel "Women" Henry Chinaski confesses his love for "his" women.

By the end of the 70s, Bukowski became popular. Increasingly, he is invited to speak to readers and read poetry (for $200). And his trips to Europe - visits to Germany and France - became significant cultural events, actively covered on TV and in the press.

Analyzing the large collection of stories Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness, published in 1972, critics tried to highlight the main direction of Bukowski’s innovative searches. Should formal innovations such as the absence of capital letters in proper names or dialogue typed in italics be considered as such? Or does the novelty lie in a specific Rabelaisian humor that makes fun of everyone and everything - writers, politicians, feminists, homosexuals, among whom a simple guy like Hank feels like an outcast and a fossil?

Based on the works included in the collection, the feature film “Stories of Ordinary Madness” (France-Italy, 1981) was made - one of the best film adaptations of Bukowski. The throughline of the film is a story from his famous story “The Most Beautiful Woman in Town.” Another film version of his works, filmed in the genre of black comedy and psychological drama, can be considered successful - the film “Cold Moon” (France, 1991), which tells about the adventures of two “unhinged” friends. Despite all the “sillyness” of their humor, the heroes are not alien to sublime thoughts about existence and the beauty of the world, which can be revealed to anyone, and in the most unexpected form.

Documentary filmmaking also did not pass Bukowski by. In the early 70s, Taylor Hackford made an “honest and direct” documentary about him, according to Bukowski. In 1983, Canadian director Ron Mann created the documentary film Poetry in Motion, dedicated to the North American poetic renaissance. The hour and a half film, which depicts several dozen of America's most famous poets reading their poems to the accompaniment of their favorite music, is accompanied by a commentary by Charles Bukowski.

Bukowski receives an invitation to work in Hollywood as a screenwriter. Based on the autobiographical script he wrote for Cannon Group Inc. The film "Drunk" (USA, 1987) was shot. The film had some success with audiences. Bukowski, in turn, took the opportunity to “use the full force” of Hollywood - he is writing another novel, “Hollywood,” depicting the order prevailing in the famous “dream factory.” Against the backdrop of the “underside of life” of Hollywood party-goers and skirmishes between directors, he portrays the image of the local genius Victor Norman, a writer who lives at the expense of producers. He considered his prototype, the New York writer Norman Mailer, to be similar in style and worldview to himself, the Californian Bukowski.

Gradually the literary establishment began to “tenderly, although with some apprehension, press him to its vast bosom.” A biography of Bukowski, written by Hugh Fox, was published; in France, his poetry was admired by J. - P. Sartre and J. Janet. By the end of his life, he had become fashionable, had both admirers and opponents, who were still in no hurry to rank his name among “great literature.”

He himself considered classical and modern literature for the most part pretentious, prim, too balanced and false. He believed that he was writing “underground and not richly,” i.e. not as it should be. At the same time, he liked P. Neruda, early Hemingway, J. Salinger, L. - F. Celine, Knut Hamsun, F. Villon, F.M. Dostoevsky.

On the human level, despite his quarrelsome, quarrelsome and contentious character, he always had absolute clarity of mind and control of the mind, as well as such an endearing good nature, courage and generosity that he was called “the only truly beloved poet of the underground.”

In 1993, the Black Sparrow publishing house published Bukowski's last lifetime anthology. It includes, arranged in chronological order, most of the poetic and prose material published by the publishing house. His latest novel, Waste Paper, like the previous ones, is characterized by a sense of humor, liberated speech, emphasis on sexuality and slang expressions. The novel is imbued with the mood of approaching death:

I want to be buried near the hippodrome: where the last race will be heard.

There were especially many fans of Buk's work in Europe, where he was willingly translated and translated - it was the sales of his books in Europe, which sold millions of copies, that made Bukowski a wealthy man. In Russia, since the 90s, his works have been published by the publishing houses "Glagol" and "New Cultural Space". Domestic admirers of his work find similarities in the writing style and episodes of Bukowski’s biography with Sergei Dovlatov, and note the influence of “Buk” on the work and life position of Eduard Limonov.

A direct, rude style has emerged, which is less like poetry and more like a guy sitting down opposite you in a bar and starting a conversation.

Bukowski is a writer who never believed in traditional American values ​​and drew his inspiration from the lives of his fellow tramps. The degraded colorful lumpen turn out to be no less deep and interesting than representatives of the middle and upper class. They also have their own set of human values ​​and their own code of honor. Because they follow the commandment, “Face the truth and you'll feel better,” they have the courage to call things by their lousy names without embellishing the truth or burying their heads in the sand.

Bukowski’s work is a kind of anarchist satire and provocation:

He challenges. He constantly throws a glass of cold water right in your face and demands that you think about who you are and what your life is about.

He was interested in the naked and frank truth of life, the raw, fundamental truths that lie at its basis. He focused on the foundations of existence, which are often hidden under a bushel, but they are the ones that support the entire structure of human existence. Bukowski is interested in man’s “ontological foundation,” because man is essentially one, despite all the differences in upbringing, education and culture.

Personal life

Charles Bukowski was married three times. He married for the first time at the age of twenty-seven in 1947 to Jane Cooney Baker. Baker was ten years older than her husband, and at the time of their meeting she suffered from alcoholism, which brought her closer to Bukowski. The couple had a lot of scandals and separated several times; they divorced eight years later. In the same year (1955), the writer married for the second time to Barbara Fry, editor of a small literary magazine. They met Bukowski through letters: Fry enthusiastically accepted the poet’s work and wanted to see him, after which they immediately began a romantic relationship.

The marriage to Fry lasted until 1958. Five years later, Bukowski briefly dated Frances Smith, a fan of his work, with whom he corresponded for a long time, until they finally met in 1963. From Smith the writer will have a daughter, Marina-Louise Bukowski; soon, however, they will separate without ever being legally married. " Soon after this I received from Fay[Francis Smith appears under this name in the novel "The Post Office"] letter. She and the child now lived in a hippie commune in New Mexico. Nice place, she wrote. At least Marina can breathe here. She included a small drawing in the letter that the girl drew for me.", Bukowski described their separation.

The writer met his last wife, Linda Lee Begley, while writing the novel "Women", by chance stopping at a diner owned by Begley. (According to the source, this was in 1976 at a reading at a place called the Troubadour). Before the wedding, their romance lasted about seven (9?) years; in 1985 they got married. A Village View journalist described Begley this way: " As a girl, Linda Begley left home and founded a health food restaurant - the kind that littered the whole of LA in the 1970s. Although Linda closed her Redondo Beach establishment in 1978, two months before “Hank” proposed to her, she claims that she still gives her husband advice on healthy eating. She managed to convince him to give up red meat and significantly limit his liquid diet to wine and beer.".

Political nihilism

The writer considered politics pointless; Bukowski never voted. He said the following: " Politics is like women: you get carried away by it seriously, and in the end you will find that you are a kind of earthworm, crushed by a docker's shoe"He held a similar opinion regarding the contemporary American "left": " They're all well-fed fools from Westwood Village, just shouting slogans. The entire radical underground is newspaper hype, pure chatter; and anyone who dives there quickly retreats to what is more profitable". Bukowski also spoke negatively about the popularization of LSD, considering this hobby to be the prerogative of the “Idiot Masses.”

Interests

In addition to alcohol, which Bukowski had a craving for throughout his life, the writer's two other passions were classical music and horse racing.

Classical music has always been an integral part of the creative process for Charles Bukowski. " I love the classics. It is there, but it is not there. She does not absorb the work, but is present in it"According to the writer, one of the reasons he fell in love with music so much was that it helped him survive; speaking about the time described in Factotum, Bukowski recalled: " It was nice to return home from factories in the evenings, undress, climb onto the bed in the dark, pour beer and listen"The writer's favorite composer was Jean Sibelius, whom Bukowski appreciated for" passion that blows your lights out".

In relation to horse racing, mainly at the beginning of his writing career, Bukowski said that visiting the racetrack for him was a matter of purely financial interest; he believed that this could allow him to win so much, " to no longer work in slaughterhouses, post offices, docks, factories"Subsequently, this hobby became an attempt to replace drunkenness, however, it did not work. The attitude towards the game subsequently underwent a change, and a few years later Bukowski already said that horse racing for him is an incentive for writing

For Bukowski, racing became a test - he said that horses teach whether a person has strength of character; The writer called playing at the races “torment,” but always emphasized that material is gained from them. " If I go to the races and get a good shake there, I’ll come back later and be able to write. This is an incentive", - Bukowski experienced certain emotions not only from the game, but also from the racetracks themselves; the writer said that when you look into the faces, especially of those who lose, you begin to see a lot in a different light

Characteristics of creativity

Literary predecessors

Throughout his life, Ch. Bukowski read a lot, but quickly became disillusioned with existing writers and poets, which was partly the reason for the start of his own creativity. Despite the fact that Bukowski almost always had an extremely negative attitude towards poets, he singled out a number of authors from the crowd and admired them. Bukowski called the greatest of his contemporaries Ezra Pound, T.S. Elliot; from writing contemporaries - Larry Aigner (English) Russian. , Gerald Locklin (English) Russian. and Ronald Curci. At the beginning of his writing career, he named D.G. as role models. Lawrence and Thomas Wolfe - later, however, Bukowski was disappointed in the latter, calling them “boring.” The writer also spoke highly of the early Salinger, Stephen Spender (English) Russian. ,Archibald MacLeish - however, he said that they delighted him at first, and then got boring. Bukowski considered Ernest Hemingway and Sherwood Anderson to be writers who quickly deteriorated but “started well.” Bukowski considered the works of Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and the early Celine to be classics. Among the writers who most strongly influenced his work, Bukowski included Celine, John Fante and William Saroyan.

Beatism

In articles dedicated to Ch. Bukowski and his work, the writer is often mistakenly classified as a beatnik. Despite the fact that even some of the poet’s contemporaries considered him as a representative of the beat generation, later researchers of this group of poets note that Bukowski, in essence, never belonged to them. Bukowski himself held a similar opinion - during an interview in 1978, he said: " I'm a loner, I do my own thing. Useless. They ask me all the time about Kerouac, and don’t I really know Neal Cassady, have I been with Ginsberg, and so on. And I have to admit: no, I tried all the beatniks; I didn't write anything then".

David Stephen Calonne described Bukowski as follows:

Ideologies, slogans, bigotry were his enemies, and he refused to belong to any group, be it the beatniks, the Confessors, the Black Mountain. , democrats, republicans, capitalists, communists, hippies, punks. Bukowski documented his deepest psychological and spiritual suffering in his own inimitable style.

Autobiographical

The overwhelming majority of C. Bukowski's works are autobiographical works. In poetry and, especially, in prose, the writer's alter ego most often appears, his lyrical anti-hero - Henry Chinaski. The writer answered evasively about whether it was possible to put an equal sign between him and Chinaski: " They know it's Bukowski, but if you give them Chinaski, they can kind of say, "Oh, he's so cool! He calls himself Chinaski, but We -we know that this is Bukowski." Here I kind of pat them on the back. They adore it. And Bukowski himself would still be too righteous; you know, I mean " I did it all."<…>And if Chinaski does that, then maybe I didn't do it, you know, maybe it's just a make-believe"Ninety-nine out of a hundred works, Bukowski said, are autobiographical. In response to a journalist’s question about where Henry Chinaski ends and Charles Bukowski begins, the writer replied that they are practically the same thing, with the exception of small vignettes with which he decorated his hero out of boredom.However, Bukowski did not deny that almost all of his works contain a small amount of fiction.

I scrub where it needs to be scrubbed, and throw away what... I don’t know. Pure selectivity. In general, everything I write is mostly facts, but they are also embellished with fiction, twists here and there to separate one from the other.<…>Nine-tenths fact, one-tenth fiction, to put everything in its place.

Main themes

David Stephen Calonne David Stephen Calonne) - a researcher of Bukowski's work and editor of several of his books notes that throughout his life the main objects of the writer's creativity were classical music, loneliness, alcoholism, authors he admired, scenes from his own childhood, writing, inspiration, madness, women, sex, love and horse racing The writer himself, during an interview, answering a question about the central theme of his prose, said: " Life - with a small "w"". Bukowski denied that he wrote obscenity; the writer believed that many of his works would be more correctly called revealing the unsightly side of life, the one on which he himself lived." I lived with alcoholics; lived almost without money; not life, but sheer madness. I have to write about this"The writer noted that he draws inspiration from people beaten down by life - and it was in them that he saw his main readership.

Poetry and prose

In the United States of America and Europe, where Bukowski gained the greatest popularity, he is primarily perceived as a poet. The author himself said that he came to this form for a banal reason - poetry for him was less of a waste of time (compared to stories or novels). Bukowski said that he started writing not because he was very good, but because everyone else, in his opinion, was bad: " I made it easier for others. I taught them that you can write poetry the same way you write a letter, that a poem can even entertain and that it doesn’t have to be sacred". The author practically did not distinguish between prose and poetry in his works - for him it was solely a matter of the line. Bukowski said that if his writings were laid out in one single line, it would sound almost the same, he did not attach much importance to the form; for the author, the line dividing prose and poetry was always only a matter of convenience.The only significant factor for the author was his current state: he said that he could write prose only when he was good, and poetry - when he was bad.

Stylistic features

The main tenet of Bukowski's work was simplicity. The writer said: " This is exactly what I try: simpler, without... the simpler, the better. Poetry. Too much poetry about the stars and the moon when it is out of place is just bad nonsense". Bukowski began writing because modern poetry depressed him - he found it fake and a scam, so he chose for himself the path of the clearest expression of thoughts, without decorations and unnecessary poetics. Literary critics classify Bukowski's work as the direction of "dirty realism (English). ) Russian ", the distinctive features of which are maximum economy of words, minimalism in descriptions, a large number of dialogues, lack of reasoning, meaning dictated by the content and particularly unremarkable characters.

Also, Bukowski’s work is sometimes referred to as the “Meat School” movement (prominent representatives of which, in addition to Bukowski, are Steve Richmond (English) Russian and Douglas Blazek (English) Russian). Representatives of this movement are characterized by aggressive, “masculine” poetry.

Writing process

Bukowski has repeatedly admitted that he wrote, for the most part, while intoxicated. He said: " I write sober, drunk, when I feel good and when I feel bad. I don't have any special poetic state". In the process of writing, among other things, Bukowski almost never edited or corrected, only occasionally crossed out lines that were bad, but did not add anything. The proofreading process was characteristic exclusively of poetry, but the author wrote prose in one sitting, without changing About the process of creating a work, Bukowski said that he never invents anything on purpose, he perceived himself as a photographer describing what he sees and what happens to him.

Interesting Facts

In the 1960s, Bukowski returned to the Los Angeles Post Office, where he worked as a clerical worker for more than a dozen years.

In 1962, Bukowski was shocked by the death of Jane Cooney Baker. She was his first real romantic attachment. Bukowski poured his grief and devastation into a poignant series of poems and short stories mourning her passing.

In 1964, Charles Bukowski had a daughter, Marina Louise Bukowski, with his then-partner Frances Smith, whom he called a "gray-haired hippie", a "maid" and a "snug-toothed old woman".

John and Louis Webb, now recognized as luminaries of the post-war "independent publishing movement", published several of Bukowski's signature poems in the literary magazine The Outsider. They also published It Catches My Heart In Its Hands (1963) and Crucifix in a Deathhand (1965) through Loujon Press.

Beginning in 1967, Bukowski wrote the column "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" for the Los Angeles underground newspaper Open City. When Open City folded in 1969, the column was picked up by the Los Angeles Free Press and the NOLA Express from New Orleans.

In 1969, Bukowski and his friend Nelly Cherkowski launched their own literary magazine, Laugh Literary and Man the Humping Guns. They published three issues in more than two years. The magazine had no influence on their careers or literature and is remembered only because Bukowski was associated with it.

Hank Moody from the TV series Californication is based on Charles Bukowski.

The writer is often mistakenly classified as a beatnik.

Bukowski lived in Los Angeles all his life.

The writer worked in the genre of hyperrealism, describing heroes in an atmosphere of alcohol addiction, debauchery and violence.

The main character of almost all of his books (largely autobiographical) is the writer Henry Chinaski.

Bukowski’s works have been filmed several times (the most famous film adaptation is “The Drunkard” (Barfly), for which Bukowski himself wrote the script.

Documentary films have been made about the life of Charles Bukowski: Bukowski: Born into This (2003, directed by John Dallaghan) and Bukowski (1973, directed by Taylor Hackford).

The real name of the writer is Heinrich Karl Bukowski.

In 2007 and 2008, there was a movement to save Bukovsky's bungalow at 5124 De Longpre Avenue from destruction. The campaign was spearheaded by defense attorney Lauren Everett. The reason was covered extensively in the local and international press, including a feature in "Beatdom" magazine, and was ultimately successful, with the bungalow listed as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.

Bibliography

Post Office (1971)

Factotum (1975)

Women / Women (1978)

Ham On Rye (1982)

Hollywood/Hollywood (1989)

Waste paper / Pulp (1994)

Collections of stories

Notes of a Dirty Old Man (1969)

Stories of Ordinary Madness / Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness (1972)

South of No North (1973)

The Most Beautiful Woman in Town (1978)

Poetry collections

Russian translations of individual poems from these collections were included in the book “The Vomiting Lady” (2000)

Mockingbird, Wish Me Luck (1972)

Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame (1974)

Love Is a Dog from Hell (1977)

Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit (1979)

War All the Time (1984)

Sometimes it's so lonely that it even makes sense / You Get So Alone at Times It Just Makes Sense (1986)

Roominghouse Madrigals (1988)

Dancing in the Dead / Bone Palace Ballet (1997)

The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountain (2004)

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Heinrich Bukowski was born in the German city of Andernach on August 16, 1920. Three years later, his family moved to Los Angeles, deciding to change their son's name to Charles. Bukowski’s childhood can hardly be called happy: he had to learn to fight and endure pain while still a boy. Among his American peers, because of his German roots, he was never able to become one of his own. My father, a former military man, was a supporter of cruel methods of education and often used a belt to shave razors. In addition, during his school years, Charles Bukowski developed a severe skin disease that disfigured his face with pockmarks and scars for the rest of his life. A difficult childhood largely predetermined the writer’s future worldview, based on alienation from the world around him, indifference to his own life and a feeling of constant depression. It is not surprising that having tried alcohol for the first time at the age of thirteen, Bukowski saw in it the best cure for an unbearable reality.

After graduating from school and spending some time in college, Bukowski left his native and unloved home, immediately embarking on all serious adventures. About this time he said: “I began to wander around the country, doing odd jobs, such as working as a janitor, a gas station attendant, a security guard, a dishwasher, a shipping agent, a warehouse clerk, a receptionist, a contractor, a truck driver, a postman, a storekeeper, a postal clerk, a parking lot attendant. "I also worked in a dog biscuit factory, a fluorescent light factory, a slaughterhouse, was a member of a railroad maintenance crew, and also worked for the American Red Cross. I've seen most cities and worked in about a hundred places." At the same time, he began to write, but having encountered a cool attitude towards his work from readers and publishers, he abandoned writing, embarking on a long-term binge, drinking, according to his words, more alcohol than any other person - water.

The journey to the bottom of American life ended in 1955 in a hospital ward, where Bukowski ended up with a stomach ulcer. Having miraculously pulled himself out, Charles began writing again. He began to be published, and in 1967 he began writing an opinion column in the Open City newspaper. The notes from those years later formed the basis for the collection of short prose “Notes of an Old Goat.” In 1970, the head of the California publishing house Black Sparrow Press, John Martin, admiring the texts of the fifty-year-old Bukowski, invited him to devote himself entirely to creativity, quitting his job, and guaranteed a lifetime income of $100. After this, Bukowski wrote his first novel, The Post Office, in twenty-two days, which was favorably received by critics. In 1976, Bukowski married - for the third time - Linda Begley, the owner of a health food restaurant. After this, Charles' life finally returned to a calm direction. The standard schedule of his day: he woke up in the afternoon, spent the evening at the races, then returned home, had dinner with his wife and grabbed a bottle of wine, locked himself in his room and wrote all night to the sounds of classical music from the radio - and with amazing productivity. “In one sitting,” Bukowski managed to write several dozen poems and stories.

Bukowski's style was formed over many years of alcoholism and wandering in the slums. His language is unexpectedly crude and harsh - critics even dubbed his style "dirty realism." Bukovsky's main characters are himself and his good friends: bar regulars, prostitutes and ordinary American workers. At the same time, he managed to remain a true poet. In his texts, through the dirt and despair, indomitable vitality and the deepest wisdom are visible: with Buddhist calm, Bukowski notices all the beauty of human life, tearing away everything superficial from it in one fell swoop. Real fame came to him in the 80s, when he wrote the novels “Women”, “Bread and Ham” and “Hollywood”. Based on his script, the film "The Drunk" was shot, starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway.

Official trailer for the film "Drunk" (Barfly, 1987

In the late 1980s, Bukowski began treatment for leukemia. He passed away in 1993. The writer was buried in the Los Angeles suburb of Rancho Palos Verdos. The epitaph “Don’t try” is engraved on his grave.

"Evening Moscow" invites you to remember the main works of the writer.

"Factotum" (Factotum, 1975)

“I read “Pounds of Braveness in Paris and London” (George Orwell’s story about his wanderings in two European capitals). I read it and said: “Oh, this guy thinks he had to take a rash of dashing; wait, now I’ll tell you about my troubles,” this is how Bukowski described the reason that prompted him to take up writing his second novel. Work on the book lasted for four years. “Factotum” tells about several years of Bukowski’s life (or rather, his constant literary double of Henry (Hank) Chinaski), spent traveling around America and constantly looking for work, lodging, female company and, of course, booze. Bukowski’s literary style - a clear and extremely simple narrative here is flavored with a select amount of his trademark irreverent humor. “Is this work really not too good for you?" - they ask Hank at the labor exchange when he refuses to work as a nurse in a public hospital. "Let's change. You will go to this job, and I will take your place," Chinaski replies. "I specially studied to work in this place." "Yes? I also studied. Two years of college."

"Bread and Ham" (Ham on Rye, 1982)

In this novel, Bukowski described his childhood and youth with his characteristic honesty and directness. There are problems with the boys living next door, a serious illness that disfigured Chinaski, his first experiences with alcohol and shyness in front of women, and the formation of a feeling of complete alienation from the world around him. But the main nerve of the book is in its descriptions of the difficult relationship between young Hank and his father. When the Great Depression hit America, Hank's father lost his job, and the family quickly began to slide to the bottom. One of the most memorable moments of the book is the description of the elder Chinaski's trips to his fictional job. Every morning he started the car and left to wander around the city, just so that the neighbors - as unemployed as he - would not decide that the Chinaski family was languishing in poverty. Returning home, he, of course, took out all the anger accumulated during the day on his son.

"Tales of Ordinary Madness" (1983)

During his life, Bukowski wrote more than 200 short stories, demonstrating that he could use the short literary form as well as write novels. Moreover, the first ones he did were even better: they didn’t drag on for a single word, they were armor-piercing and hit right on target. In just a few pages, Bukowski managed to simultaneously scare, shock and make the reader laugh, but also show him the sad beauty of life. For his straightforward style and gloomy humor, many even compared Bukowski to the Soviet writer Sergei Dovlatov.

"Hollywood" (Hollywood, 1989)

At the peak of Henry Chinaski's popularity, American director John Pinchot invited him to write a script for a film named after "The Jim Beam Dance." Behind this name one can guess the film "Drunken", actually filmed according to the script by Bukowski, and John Pinchot is Barbet Schroeder, director of "Drunk". The novel “Hollywood” is dedicated to the writer’s short immersion in the Los Angeles film industry: the pages of the book describe in detail the painful search for producers for the film and the filming itself (Bukowski himself starred in one of the scenes). Under fictitious names there are such monsters of Hollywood cinema as Francis Ford-Coppola(who became the film's producer), Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway (who played the main roles). Unexpectedly, the book devotes a lot of space to Bukowski’s tender relationship with his wife Linda, which, to be honest, does not fit in with his image of the perpetually drunken libertine from previous books.

"The Last Night of the Earth Poems" (1992)

Bukowski's true creative legacy lies not in his novels or short stories, but in his poetry. During the writer's lifetime, several dozen collections of poetry were published, of which negligible amounts were translated into Russian. But it is undoubtedly worth finding them on the Internet, especially rare audio recordings of his poetry readings, in which laughter and applause practically never stop. Bukowski's poems are the same prose, only capturing barely perceptible moments of beauty in a series of times, and cut into lines of unequal length - he did not recognize rhyme or syllable. “Poems of the Last Night on Earth” contains one of the poet’s main poems, “Days are like razors, nights are full of rats,” in which he tells how he spent daylight hours in libraries, and spent his nights in drinking and fighting. Actually, to the question “How to become a writer?” Bukowski answered: “Read and live.”

American writer, poet, journalist. Charles Bukowski born in Germany in 1920. During his life, he published 16 collections of short stories, six novels and many books of poetry.

Charles Bukowski how the novelist represented "dirty realism".

At birth Bukowski was named after his father - Heinrich Karl. His German mother was a seamstress, his father a sergeant in the American army. In 1923, due to the crisis, the Bukowski family moved to the United States.

His father often spanked Charles and his mother for the slightest offenses. Subsequently, some moments from his childhood will be included in an autobiographical novel. Charles did not communicate with his peers, embarrassed by his German accent.

Bukowski graduated from high school, attended college, read widely, and studied journalism. The father did not share his son's passion for writing and kicked him out of the house. For a long time, Charles spent time in bars and did not go to college, for which he was expelled.

Creative activity of Charles Bukowski / Charles Bukowski

After failure in studies Charles Bukowski decided to travel around America. Frequent moves, job changes and new acquaintances later formed the basis of his novel "Factotum".

In 1944 Bukowski sent my story to a magazine Story, where it was accepted, but published on the last pages. This disappointed Charles, after which he stopped writing for some time. The next story was published two years later. A series of failures forced Charles Bukowski give up and get drunk.

“I quit writing for ten years - I just drank, lived, moved around and cohabited with bad women,” Charles Bukowski later recalled. - I collected material, although not consciously. I completely forgot about writing. I gave up. My art became drunkenness and cohabitation with women.

In 1952 Charles Bukowski got a job in the postal service, where he worked for more than ten years. He began to seriously engage in writing, his stories were published in small magazines. In 1963, his poetry collections were published. Since 1967 Charles Bukowski wrote an opinion column for a California newspaper. The writer was not constrained by topics or censorship, and Bukowski wrote honestly about his life.

The writer's first successful novel was the book "Post office" 1971, which has been translated into 15 languages. Charles wrote the book in three weeks and immediately formed his own style.

In 1978 Bukowski released his best-selling book - "Women", which has been criticized for sexism. Four years later, the writer writes an autobiography "Bread with Ham", where he talks about his difficult childhood. Charles himself said that this “horror novel” was the most difficult to write.

Towards the end of my life Charles Bukowski left autobiographical prose and took up the detective genre.

Charles Bukowski He began to get sick in 1988, his immune system was weakening. He soon stopped writing and died in 1994.

Charles Bukowski became the prototype for the hero of the series Californication, Hank Moody, played by David Duchovny.

Personal life of Charles Bukowski

At 27 years old Charles Bukowski met a 38-year-old alcoholic Jane Cooney Baker. Jane became not only the writer's wife, but also his greatest love and muse.

They divorced in 1955, and Bukowski married the editor of the Texas Barbara Fry. Their relationship did not work out because she did not tolerate drinking, and Charles could not stop drinking. The couple separated in 1958.

In 1963 Charles Bukowski met Francis Smith who bore him a daughter Marina Louise. But their marriage lasted only two years.

At the end of her life she became the writer's wife Linda Lee Begley, diner owner.

Film adaptations of works by Charles Bukowski

• 1981 - A Story of Ordinary Madness
• 1987 - Mad Love
• 1987 - Drunk
• 1991 - Cold Moon
• 2000 - The Man with Beautiful Eyes
• 2005 - Factotum
• 2010 - Love for 17.50
• 2011 - Doctor Nazi