Newbie: Asking for references to his "German doctor"

[Viktor]

All:

My father-in-law was Bukowski's "German doctor" (see "Post Office", f'rinstance), since passed away. And his wife was my Mother-In-Law (for 17 years or so), still kicking, thank you. She tells of a CB story wherein CB says his doctor married a woman "for her mind". Any clues where I might find this?

Any help would be lovely.

Viktor Nehring
eharmonica@yahoo.com

 

[zobraks]

She tells of a CB story wherein CB says his doctor married a woman "for her mind". Any clues where I might find this?

That's in Dr. Nazi ( :D), a story from South of No North:

My doctor hunched up on his stool. He yellowed and greyed a bit more. A giant twitch ran through his body. He was almost through. A nice fellow though.
“Well, I got rid of my wife,” he said, “that’s over.”
“Fine,” I said, “tell me about when you were a Nazi.”
“Well, we didn’t have much choice. They just took us in. I was young. I mean, hell, what are you going to do? You can only live in one country at a time. You go to war, and if you don’t end up dead you end up in an open boxcar with people throwing shit at you…”
I asked him if he’d fucked his nice nurse. He smiled gently. The smile said yes. Then he told me that since the divorce, well, he’d dated one of his patients, and he knew it wasn’t ethical to get that way with patients…
“No, I think it’s all right, Doctor.”
“She’s a very intelligent woman. I married her.”

Tell us more about your father and mother in-law and what they remembered about Bukowski, please.
P.S. Welcome to The Forum.

P.P.S. Be warned that there's an unpleasant part about your wife-to-be toward the end of that story.

Spoiler: read with caution

I got up from the table and paid him and I left. I still couldn’t hear anything. I didn’t feel particularly bad or good and I wondered what ailment I would bring him next, what he would do about it, what he would do about his 17 year old daughter who was in love with another woman and who was going to marry the woman, and it occurred to me that everybody suffered continually, including those who pretended they didn’t.

 

[Purple Stickpin]

“Well, we didn’t have much choice. They just took us in. I was young. I mean, hell, what are you going to do? You can only live in one country at a time. You go to war, and if you don’t end up dead you end up in an open boxcar with people throwing shit at you…”

How succinct is that? When Buk wrote 50 words, it was often the equivalent of 5,000 from any other writer.

 

[zobraks]

Hey Viktor (if you're still around), I just read another piece about your father-in-law.
It's a (very narrative) poem My Doctor (from a book called Open All Night, page 318).

And it's funny, too.

 

[Viktor]

Thanks for the tips. The doctor died some time ago -- 1995 or so, and the wife never met him. But there are signed paperbacks on her shelves.