Rejection is good for the soul but...

[cirerita]

This is an excerpt from a July, 1961 letter to Corrington. He had asked B. if he had ever submitted to Mutiny, and here's the reply.

 

[Father Luke]

How many of those Corrington letters are not included in
Living on Luck? Lots?

 

[cirerita]

No idea as I haven't gone thru' all these letters, but I would say that quite a few did not make it to LoL.

 

[Father Luke]

okie doke.

 

[hank solo]

That's a snappy note. I like the Hem bit. He's always saying how he didn't keep carbons, but he must have kept lots of copies even in those early days, mustn't he?

 

[roni]

thanks cire.
i like last last sentence.

 

[Gerard K H Love]

Yes, Thank you. I guess Bukowski could have truly been considered a Diamond in the rough back then.
That lady he refers to, F-ed up.

 

[mjp]

He's always saying how he didn't keep carbons, but he must have kept lots of copies even in those early days, mustn't he?

The evidence suggest that he didn't keep carbons until Martin started publishing him, so I suspect it was Martin's suggestion.

He did not keep carbons of the stuff he sent to the Webbs for the books, because in one letter he says he doesn't remember Something for the Touts... and asks Webb to send him a printed copy of the poem.

 

[cirerita]

He didn't keep carbons at the time, but he kept track of the mags he submitted to... until he lost that list :D

In many, many letters he says to his publishers: "Yeah, go ahead and publish 'The Japanese Wife', though I don't remember having written it," or something along those lines.

 

[Bukfan]

"I don't keep carbons or memories or much else besides a bad taste in my mouth." :D

- Thanks, c...

 

[roni]

have just had a quick look through his 60s letters.

so, HERE it is off-top.


on keeping CARBONS:

letter to Jon Webb / Dec 19, 1962:
"... And the other stuff, the older stuff has disappeared and I don't keep records and/or carbons so it's pretty much lost."

letter to J.W.Corrington / Dec 24, 1962: (only ONE week later!)
"... On the poems about Jane, I kept copies ..."

letter to John Martin / May 29, 1968:
"... yes would like to do another book with you - the new poems - will keep carbons of all the shit I write from now on. plus, there is plenty of back work."


on keeping NOTEBOOKS:

letter to Jim Roman / Jan 11, 1965:
"If I'd saved all my notebooks I wouldn't be able to move around this kitchen - or read them either."

 

[Bukfan]

Thanks, Roni! I guess that settles the "I don't use carbons/notebooks" discussion...

 

[cirerita]

Well, here's an excerpt from the 1961 letter to Corrington I mentioned in this thread.

"I had a wife once who really amazed me" :rolleyes:

 

[Bukfan]

So back then he did'nt use carbons. Great last sentence!
Thanks, cirerita!

 

[cirerita]

Funnily enough, he did keep a lot of "pencil copies", as he calls them. Is a pencil copy what it literally means?

Ha, Corrington was so upset with B. refusing to make carbon copies that after reading that B. had lost 200 poems in the mail, he called him "fucking anarchist" :D

 

[roni]

[...] he called him "fucking anarchist"

i guess that enforced Buk even more in refusing to make carbons.
he musta felt so proud.