January 21st - Bukowski completes Post Office
- Thread starter Ponder
- Start date
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
Thank you Ponder, that is an event. Just consider John Martin's surprise.
Right.
Bukfan
"The law is wrong; I am right"
No, it does'nt seem right. According to Unca Howie, Buk started writing Post Office on January 2 (page 103).
That corresponds with Neeli writing in his Buk bio, "On January 2, 1970 Hank quit his job at the post office." (page 223). On the next page (page 224) Neeli writes, "Hank plunged into writing Post Office the day after he quit his job...He completed the manuscript in less than three weeks." - So there's a discrepancy of one day between Unca Howie and Neeli as to when Buk started writing the novel, but he started writing it either on January 2, or January 3, it seems.
Just to complicate matters further, Miles says in his bio, that January 9 was Buk's last day at work, at the post office (page 176)! However, I have more faith in Unca Howie and Neeli, than I have in Miles.
That corresponds with Neeli writing in his Buk bio, "On January 2, 1970 Hank quit his job at the post office." (page 223). On the next page (page 224) Neeli writes, "Hank plunged into writing Post Office the day after he quit his job...He completed the manuscript in less than three weeks." - So there's a discrepancy of one day between Unca Howie and Neeli as to when Buk started writing the novel, but he started writing it either on January 2, or January 3, it seems.
Just to complicate matters further, Miles says in his bio, that January 9 was Buk's last day at work, at the post office (page 176)! However, I have more faith in Unca Howie and Neeli, than I have in Miles.
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mjp
Founding member
January 2nd and 9th were both Fridays in 1970, so either is a plausible last day at a job. It must be one of those.
But to further muddy the waters, he says in a January 1970 letter to Carl Weissner that the first ten days after quitting the post office he was just drinking and going to parties - "I damn near went out of my skull...I almost cracked."
If that letter is accurate, it sure doesn't sound like he started writing Post Office the day he quit. But going crazy for 10 days seems reasonable after all that time at the job, and considering the stress he was feeling without the safety net of the regular paycheck.
Whatever the quit date is, it would seem that the 1/21 finish date is almost certainly wrong.
But to further muddy the waters, he says in a January 1970 letter to Carl Weissner that the first ten days after quitting the post office he was just drinking and going to parties - "I damn near went out of my skull...I almost cracked."
If that letter is accurate, it sure doesn't sound like he started writing Post Office the day he quit. But going crazy for 10 days seems reasonable after all that time at the job, and considering the stress he was feeling without the safety net of the regular paycheck.
Whatever the quit date is, it would seem that the 1/21 finish date is almost certainly wrong.
Same here. I have no clue where I read it.
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
January 22nd is a big day too.
This day 1966, John Martin meets Bukowski face to face for the first time and 1962 Jane Cooney dies. In the calendar.
All this info right at our finger tips.
This day 1966, John Martin meets Bukowski face to face for the first time and 1962 Jane Cooney dies. In the calendar.
All this info right at our finger tips.
Johannes
Founding member
That's true. I never realized that those two periods (10 day drinking bout after quitting/writing P.O. in 21 days) might collide. But they seem to, except his last workday would have been december 20th or something ... is that possible?
Another probably unrelated inconsistence: In "Locked in the Arms ..." (I believe, correct me, if I'm wrong) we read, that P.O. originally had 120,000 words, 30,000 pulled out on the re-reading from B. himself.
This probably comes from here:
"I have to write a lot of poems to keep from going crazy; I can't help it. I often write ten to 12 poems a day and then top the whole thing off with a short story. I may be going crazy but it has been all hell on production. I just hang on thop of this typer and scream it out. Wrote the novel in 20 days. 120,000 words, 30,000 of which I pulled out on the re-reading."
- Living On Luck, p. 109: Letter to Neeli Cherry, September 1, 1970,
Well, 120,000 - 30,000 that would leave 90,000 words, which always seemed way to much for me holding the book in hands. Doesn't it? I`d say, it's about the half. 45,000, maybe 50,000 words.
So, why 90,000? Or even 120,000? Were they really there? Were they thrown out? By whom?
Another probably unrelated inconsistence: In "Locked in the Arms ..." (I believe, correct me, if I'm wrong) we read, that P.O. originally had 120,000 words, 30,000 pulled out on the re-reading from B. himself.
This probably comes from here:
"I have to write a lot of poems to keep from going crazy; I can't help it. I often write ten to 12 poems a day and then top the whole thing off with a short story. I may be going crazy but it has been all hell on production. I just hang on thop of this typer and scream it out. Wrote the novel in 20 days. 120,000 words, 30,000 of which I pulled out on the re-reading."
- Living On Luck, p. 109: Letter to Neeli Cherry, September 1, 1970,
Well, 120,000 - 30,000 that would leave 90,000 words, which always seemed way to much for me holding the book in hands. Doesn't it? I`d say, it's about the half. 45,000, maybe 50,000 words.
So, why 90,000? Or even 120,000? Were they really there? Were they thrown out? By whom?
mjp
Founding member
5700 words a day is a lot to write for three weeks straight, I've always thought the 120,000 word number was high.
I don't know if 90,000 is too high for the published version of Post Office. Maybe there's a text version floating around out there that someone could get a word count on.
I don't know if 90,000 is too high for the published version of Post Office. Maybe there's a text version floating around out there that someone could get a word count on.
from 'Locked' p102f (Grove-Press, Hardcover, 1999):
"[...] When his friend Peter Edler invited him to read at The Bridge [...] Bukowski said yes. The date was set as Friday 19 December, 1969. [...] At the end of his final graveyard shift, a few days later, Bukowski wished everyone at the post office such a casual goodbye the clerks thought he was just going for the night. [...] He [...] got royally drunk. He stayed that way for several days, completely disorientated by the sudden rush of freedom. [...] on afternoon of 2 January, 1970, Bukowski sat down at his Royal typewriter and started his first novel [...]"
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
Vacation days owed to him.
He quit at the busiest time of the year.
He quit at the busiest time of the year.
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
Just like many of the members here, writing while drunk. In his case writing very well.
mjp
Founding member
Perfect. I was hoping you would turn up something specific, and you did not disappoint.
This kind of makes the "21 days to write Post Office" story a myth though. A 10 day drunk (he seems pretty consistent with that 10 day claim, which makes it more likely to be true) would have put the start date at or around January 18th. The day after the letter to Dorbin would have been 21 days, and he says he's still not finished. Hard to say what his 133 pages of typescript translate to though, not knowing how many pages the finished manuscript is.
I need to take a break and go sniff a few bindings.
Bukfan
"The law is wrong; I am right"
It would seem so. Nice find, cirerita!
Then Miles, after all, came closer when he wrote Buk quit working at Jan. 9.
So now the 10 day drunk (reminds me of the 10 year drunk) is down to a week. If he quit his job at Jan. 7, and was drunk for a week, then he must have started writing Post Office about Jan. 14 and at Feb. 6, about 23 days after having started, he was at page 133 (Post Office is 183 pages long, I believe). It certainly does'nt add up with the 20 or 21 days he said it took to write it.
Do we know at which date he finished Post Office, or called Martin saying so?
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chronic
old and in the way
It says a week and a half which is ten days, give or take a day.
Bukfan
"The law is wrong; I am right"
Oh, you're right, chronic! My mistake! About 10 days it is then. So he started writing Post Office about Jan.18 and about 21 days later, at Feb. 6, he still had'nt finished it. So far so good. If only we knew when he finished it, or what day he called Martin saying so...
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