Portions From a Wine-Stained Notebook

chronic

old and in the way
Just looking at Scott Harrisons new ebay listings and came across this in one of his descriptions:
By-the-way for the first time in decades City Lights expects to publish a new Bukowski title sometime in 2009. Essays and picked-up pieces.
This is the first that I've heard of a new City Lights title. Anyone have more info?
 

cirerita

Founding member
"Essays and picked-up pieces". Funny description. It's actually essays and short-stories. A few details have been mentioned on the forum. But it's D. who should do the talking, not me ;)
 

Rekrab

Usually wrong.
Cool. While Bukowski was alive, City Lights took stuff that was too raw for Martin's tastes, so this should be an edgy new collection.
 

Domator

Founding member
I'd like to see totally new materials but it's perhaps impossible, especially from City Lights.
 

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
Great news! Let's hope it will be published later this year. It's been a great Buk year so far. We got the new DVD's and now there's a new Buk book on the way. Fantastic...
 
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Rekrab

Usually wrong.
I expect many more collections of Bukowski material, although not from Ecco. I was reading in the H.S. bio that Martin said about half of the poetry Buk wrote was unpublishable, just words on the page. Other editors may see merit in some of those poems.
 

bospress.net

www.bospress.net
I have it on good authority that the last book of poems will be the last book of new poems ever. That does not rule out short stories, of course. Or letters, for that matter, but I understand that there will be no more poems. Buk had a very high rate of publishable poems, but I hear that what is left unpublished should remain unpublished.


Bill
 
I expect many more collections of Bukowski material, although not from Ecco. I was reading in the H.S. bio that Martin said about half of the poetry Buk wrote was unpublishable, just words on the page. Other editors may see merit in some of those poems.

On the former, I sent City Lights a message on their website, inquiring about whether thay might have some "Buk sh@t in their colon."

My words, of course. I was far more diplomatic. I said " Hey f#ckers, publish all the Bukowski sh*t you are shoving up yer a$s and hiding from yer wives.";)

Still no word.:p

Seriously folks, I'm here all week...I sent a very plaintive e-mail explaining that we are all masturbating slowly in anticipation of any use of the word "and" or "the" with Buk on the cover...

...just let me know when I should be serious.

I really did send a nice request to City Lights...
 

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
That's great, Stickpin! Maybe they'll give you a release date...
 
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cirerita

Founding member
wow, this is great news. wonder if there are any titles floating around?

It's a very loooooooooong title ;)

I have it on good authority that the last book of poems will be the last book of new poems ever. That does not rule out short stories, of course. Or letters, for that matter, but I understand that there will be no more poems. Buk had a very high rate of publishable poems, but I hear that what is left unpublished should remain unpublished.

There are some uncollected poems which are great, though not many. The unpublished stuff is really below par.
 

Rekrab

Usually wrong.
I have it on good authority that the last book of poems will be the last book of new poems ever. That does not rule out short stories, of course. Or letters, for that matter, but I understand that there will be no more poems. Buk had a very high rate of publishable poems, but I hear that what is left unpublished should remain unpublished.
Bet I know who that authority is, and if he says so, it's so. But he won't live forever. Later, after he's passed on, I expect there'll be more poetry collections. Even if the work is technically below Buk's standard in terms of literary value, I would think that fact would be more than outweighed by the biographical/historical value. Personally, I'd read his shopping lists, and enjoy them. A "bad" or "mediocre" Bukowski poem full of typos pounded out when he was drunk would be very much of interest. A book full of them would be a feast.
 

Snowball Fight

You move like a giant, ancient fish...
Bet I know who that authority is, and if he says so, it's so.... A "bad" or "mediocre" Bukowski poem full of typos pounded out when he was drunk would be very much of interest. A book full of them would be a feast.

That would be fun, if not difficult to read...
 

HenryChinaski

Founding member
I got this email in my mailbox today.

Dear Ryan,

Thanks for contacting City Lights. We'll gladly confirm that rumor! This fall/winter, we'll be releasing Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook, a sampling of previously uncollected work including Bukowski's first and last short stories, and the first column from "Notes of a Dirty Old Man." Keep checking back at www.citylights.com for more info-- soon we'll have a page created for the title in our "Forthcoming City Lights titles" section, and you can find out all the details then.

Best wishes,
Maia


********

Maia Ipp
Marketing & Publicity Associate
City Lights Publishers
 

bospress.net

www.bospress.net
Bet I know who that authority is, and if he says so, it's so. But he won't live forever. Later, after he's passed on, I expect there'll be more poetry collections. Even if the work is technically below Buk's standard in terms of literary value, I would think that fact would be more than outweighed by the biographical/historical value. Personally, I'd read his shopping lists, and enjoy them. A "bad" or "mediocre" Bukowski poem full of typos pounded out when he was drunk would be very much of interest. A book full of them would be a feast.

The poems that are not published would probably not be allowed to be published ever. That may have been part of the Huntington deal, I don't know. I can see some collections of poems that were in magazines goming out someday in the not so near future, but there is no cache of unpublished poems that I think will ever see the light of day.

Bill
 

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
There must be short stories enough from various mags to make a new collection.

Great news from City Lights! Nice title too. Good job, HC!
 

Rekrab

Usually wrong.
The poems that are not published would probably not be allowed to be published ever. That may have been part of the Huntington deal, I don't know. I can see some collections of poems that were in magazines goming out someday in the not so near future, but there is no cache of unpublished poems that I think will ever see the light of day.
That may be the case, but if so, it's a shame. One or two editor's judgement -- however authoritative -- is never the final word on quality, or significance of literary work.
 
For your grandchildren to read.

... or for my grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren ( - "Yeah. All right, Stan. Don't labour the point...!")


sure, you're right. It's unlikely we will see the day ourselfs.
But then, who knows. Sue Hodson of Huntington once told me, a critical edition will certainly happen, even though it's not on the agenda yet. So, they ARE aware of the 'need' for it.

Imagine to go through all the parts of the process when he wrote 'the crunch' - to see how he developed it and created all these different versions and to see which ones he totally abandoned. Or reliable information on which poems he wrote in which night in which order - this would tell us something, I think. Or the Jane poems - were they mostly written in bulks, with larger distances inbetween - or did he do one or two of them constantly every now and then. Are the (unpublished) worse poems only other forms of better (published) poems he wrote the same night or did he merely write many totally different things a night, some good some bad. when writing prose, did he do any poems that very day/night and if so, are they somehow related to the specific prose part? etcetc.

All valid questions. And we'll not see the answer from the form in which his work is published now.
 

bospress.net

www.bospress.net
Unless copyright law changes, it is what 75 years after the death of the author, it is public domain, right? Does this apply to only published works?

So, in 2068 if any of us are here, we can put out volumes of unpublished poems using Cireritas archives, or by looking thru the Huntington.

Or do I have something wrong here?

Bill
 

cirerita

Founding member
I'll be younger than you guys, and as you well know, vegetarians live longer :D :D So I'll put out those volumes myself. By then, we won't need to feed machines to make copies. It will be some sort of mental shit.

Too bad I'm kinda retarded...
 

jordan

lothario speedwagon
i'm even younger, and vegans live even longer! so i'll be a sprightly 87, and i imagine that my small press will have developed into quite a publishing empire with that many years to percolate. i'm on it.
 
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