Buk said that on the balcony of his San Pedro's home while he got interviewed by a Belgian journalist.
How much did he really drink?
- Thread starter Petteri Mattila
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the only good poet
One retreat after another without peace.
ah! Thanks, ponder. I'd only remembered it in audio, from an audio cassette.
I didn't think this deserved it's own thread (didn't find anything in the forum by searching) but on the online clips where he pukes before going onstage I wonder if that is nerves or from alcohol? I'm not bringing this up to make fun of him, I'm bringing it up because I just watched a clip of him puking in a dark hallway and thinking about puking made me think that the last place I would want to be right after puking would be in front of people because my eyes are always all red and I'm disorientated...
number6horse
okyoutwopixiesoutyougo
I'm pretty sure it was nerves. He often spoke of how public readings made him a nervous wreck. But the cheap wine couldn't have helped either. It was years later when Linda convinced him to drink good Riesling.
Borrowed from Fight Club Who could drink who under the table ? Hemingway or Bukowski or Fitzgerald?
From what i've read Fitzgerald was a light weight, so that's him out. (if anyone can remember who said that about him i'd appreciate it)
That depends on where you stick the orange juice! :)
A lot of that seems to be coming from a genuine boozehound! Wise advice, especially on the appropriation of liquids that 'insult the brain'.
There was one experience I read about where 2 German visitors had just arrived at Bukowski's, in the early hours of the morning, only to find that everybody was leaving. They asked somebody who came past them: 'What happened? Is the party over?'
The person said 'He's just kicked us out because we weren't drinking enough!'
One of the Germans said 'That is sooo Bukowski!'
Oskar Blues Brewery is a craft brewery located in Longmont, Colorado. The company began as a restaurant in Lyons in 1997 and began brewing beer in the basement in 1999. Five years later, they became one of the first to issue craft beer in cans.
Unfortunately that comes from mjp's favorite source: wikipedia.
Unfortunately that comes from mjp's favorite source: wikipedia.
If he did indeed drink as much as he writes about in his novels, it begs the question - How did he keep his faculties to write so bloody well? I mean, he is sharp; constantly one or more steps ahead of the reader. It's never dull nor does the prose at anytime suggest any deterioration or weakness in his writing. That's the question I kept asking to myself as I read through his major novels.
I've wondered that as well, 'Observation.B'. I'm amazed that the Buk didn't suffer from memory loss or become extremely forgetful, or piss his pants with the amount of alcohol he consumed.
Seems like a very true assessment to me...whiskey will put you on the floor a lot faster than the wine.
Also, aside from the physical toll it would take, I always wondered about the financial toll...how buk could swing things with limited funds. But after getting back from a month in the states and seeing the insanely cheap price of booze there I understand. Here in Canada the same bottle can set you back three to four times as much. Hell, some Canadian imports are cheaper in the states than they are in Canada.
At Winn Dixie you could get a case of spiced rum - 6 60s for $90 + free mixer and a discount on gas. I now wonder how everyone in that country does not pickle themselves by the age of forty, haha!
I've been through several hospital detoxes in my life. People who drink as heavily as Bukowski CLAIMS he did (for as long as he claims he did) struggle with seizures (upon detox), intense tremers, wetbrain (essentially becoming mentally retarted), and a complete inability to function, not to mention sexual impotence (The book Women would have been a physical impossibiliy). There's no way he could have been anything but homeless or hospitalized after all those years, nevermind going to all the trouble to write. He'd have been spendjng his time collecting empty bottles to redeem the deposit.
I think he was completely full of shit about his alcohol intake. Just like Hunter Thompson was about his drug use. And Hemingway was about his machismo.
That's not to say anything negative against his writing. I think Faulkner said something to the effect of "fiction can be truer than historical fact."
These guys were artists creating characters, and we've tended to blend their actual life stories with the myths they've created.
"So you still think you're a writer?"
"Well.......I'm still writing."
I think he was completely full of shit about his alcohol intake. Just like Hunter Thompson was about his drug use. And Hemingway was about his machismo.
That's not to say anything negative against his writing. I think Faulkner said something to the effect of "fiction can be truer than historical fact."
These guys were artists creating characters, and we've tended to blend their actual life stories with the myths they've created.
"So you still think you're a writer?"
"Well.......I'm still writing."
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he drank exactly as much as went down his throat and exactly as often as it happened.
now let's switch to something more interesting.
Black Swan
Abord the Yorikke!
Caontil, I mean to wish you good luck, whatever works for you. Also, welcome.
I think like Roni, you shouldn't be looking at the results of the pissing contests.
You' re probably looking for more in your search for good literature.
I think like Roni, you shouldn't be looking at the results of the pissing contests.
You' re probably looking for more in your search for good literature.
Hosh
hoshomccreesh.com
And how much is that, exactly? I don't recall specifics. 5 beers a day? A bottle of Scotch every day? Every week? 3 bottles of wine every night? Tell us how much Bukowski claimed he drank -- hard numbers -- and we'll start testing your theory.
Because without hard numbers to either back-up with research or refute, it's all just talk (and not very insteresting talk at that) now isn't it?
It's not unreasonable to think that in his younger years, the amount he drank wound him up hemorrhaging and in the hospital in 1954, as in the well-documented (if not possibly somewhat embellished for the sake of literature) stint from Life and Death in the Charity Ward. We know he embellished some things, at least that's the most reasonable conclusion. But there are examples of him explaining how much he drank. An inscription to Arthur Appelbaum, his attorney, indicates that he wrote Post Office in 21 days on a pint a night. Are we to take him at his word here? Maybe. In later works, he discusses drinking about two bottles of wine a night. At 1,500 mL and 12% alcohol (a typical percentage from the 70s and 80; they tend to be higher these days), that's 180 mL of ethanol. That's the equivalent of a 375-mL "pint" of 48% Laphroaig Quarter Cask. That'll mess you up for a few hours, and it ain't great for the long-term, but it's not going on a complete bender.
But one doesn't need to be what one claims to be effective. Does one need to be completely off their rocker to write an effective book about a psyche ward? I think Ken Kesey did a fair job. And if Bukowski drank half or less of what he claimed, does it lessen the quality of the output? Must one be exactly what one professes when writing fiction?
But one doesn't need to be what one claims to be effective. Does one need to be completely off their rocker to write an effective book about a psyche ward? I think Ken Kesey did a fair job. And if Bukowski drank half or less of what he claimed, does it lessen the quality of the output? Must one be exactly what one professes when writing fiction?
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@Purple Stickpin Fiction is the key. But DAMN man, you be working the math :)
Yeah, and I screwed it up, but just fixed it. Blame it on Jameson. :eek:
@Purple Stickpin You still be the Mathlete, my friend. I flunked out of grade eleven :)
You guys are right about the whole pissing contest thing. I think I was just pissed at him because I was really into him for years, and when I was in detox again (literally like three days ago), Betting on the Muse was there and I was just like "Fuck this guy."
Still a fan - I just kinda wanted to call him out for being full of shit, I guess, out of my own personal frustration more than based on any valid premis.
Guys like him and Kerouac and Hemingway and Ginsberg and Thoreau really changed my life in showing me that you can ACTUALLY live the life you want, if you are willing to suffer and starve for it.
some type of sloppy attempt at quoting Buk off my dome:
"If you really want to write, then quit your job, move into a tiny room, and FUCKING WRITE already."
Still a fan - I just kinda wanted to call him out for being full of shit, I guess, out of my own personal frustration more than based on any valid premis.
Guys like him and Kerouac and Hemingway and Ginsberg and Thoreau really changed my life in showing me that you can ACTUALLY live the life you want, if you are willing to suffer and starve for it.
some type of sloppy attempt at quoting Buk off my dome:
"If you really want to write, then quit your job, move into a tiny room, and FUCKING WRITE already."
Black Swan
Abord the Yorikke!
All right, let's move on...
I think there was a good observation made by his wife, Linda, who said that she watched him drink a lot over a long period of time but it didn't affect his ability to write or do other things, despite his heavy intake. Unlike myself, some people have an immense tolerance for alcohol - Depardieu is another one who can drink bottles and bottles of wine a night. I don't know what it is that allows for this - metabolism? body mass? But Buk mentions the first time he drank it in 'Ham on Rye', there was some instant connection he made with it and knew that he would be drinking it for the rest of his life (at least until near the end).
