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With Bukowski, the votes are still coming in. There seems to be no middle ground--people seem either to love him or hate him. Tales of his own life and doings are as wild and weird as the very stories he writes. In a sense, Bukowski was a legend in his time . . . a madman, a recluse, a lover . . . tender, vicious . . . never the same . . . these are exceptional stories that come pounding out of his violent and depraved life . . . horrible and holy, you cannot read them and ever come awaythe same again. Bukowski . . . "a professional disturber of the peace . . . laureate of Los Angeles netherworld [writes with] crazy romantic insistence that losers are less phony than winners, and with an angry compassion for the lost." --Jack Kroll,Newsweek "Bukowski's poems are extraordinarily vivid and often bitterly funny observations of people living on the very edge of oblivion. His poetry, in all it's glorious simplicity, was accessible the way poetry seldom is - a testament to his genius." --Nick Burton,PIF Magazine Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) published his first story when he was twenty-four and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. His first book of poetry was published in 1959; he went on to publish more than forty-five books of poetry and prose, including books published by City Lights Publishers such asNotes of a Dirty Old Man,More Notes of a Dirty Old Man,The Most Beautiful Woman in Town,Tales of Ordinary Madness,Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook,The Bell Tolls for No One,andAbsence of the Hero.… (more)
Media reviews
Quels sont les romans qu'il faut avoir lu absolument ? Un livre culte qui transcende, fait réfléchir, frissonner, rire ou pleurer… La littérature est indéniablement créatrice d’émotions. Si vous êtes adeptes des classiques, ces
De temps en temps, il n'y a vraiment rien de mieux que de se poser devant un bon bouquin, et d'oublier un instant le monde réel. Mais si vous êtes une grosse lectrice ou un gros lecteur, et que vous avez épuisé le stock de votre bibliothèque personnelle, laissez-vous tenter par ces quelques classiques de la littérature.
User reviews
In these stories, Bukowski writes what the early impressionists were
Bukowski is, simply put, a hell of a writer, and this book along with The Most Beautiful Woman In Town are culled from the first collection of short stories Bukowski ever put out. I think before this he wasn't as recognized for his short stories and it took Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Lights Publishing to recognize his acumen. Perhaps there had been too much crap as Bukowski was refuted to have had to develop his craft over a long period of time and most likely over a great number of duds.
I have not personally historically liked Bukowski's short stories from what I've read. The books that he wrote that were mixtures of poetry and short stories were nearly always a wash and the dedicated short story books simply never were as compelling as the bonafide novels (except Pulp). Bukowski here puts opinions literary and otherwise on display with as much freedom as he wants to and perhaps the biggest hat trick is that he actually makes one care. If this were the opinion of someone feckless it would get old damn quick, but that's not all that's here. There's also humor, fantasies, and flights delerium. In fact some of these short stories rank amongst the best writing Bukoswki ever did.