The Continual Condition (pre-publication)

mjp

mjp

Founding member
I have been reading Condition over the past few days (I saw Martin's unnecessary and obvious college-creative-writing-class mark on the very first page, but I will spare you my typical rant on that painful subject), but it wasn't until this morning that I looked at the back of the book.

Under MARKETING CAMPAIGN they have all the usual shit (including the very exciting "Online Advertising on Facebook, Targeting Bukowski Fans" - how very cutting edge!), but the very last entry is, "Author Website: bukowski.net."

So there you go. I guess we can start calling this the OFFICIAL Charles Bukowski site. ;) You know, according to the wonderful people at Ecco anyway.

For what it's worth, I tend to think that the cover may change. I was able to get a high resolution scan of the poem that is in the background for them, but they still have a very fuzzy 75dpi picture of his writing desk, and I can't see anyone at a professional publishing house saying, "Yeah, whatever, that's fine, just ship it." So we'll see.
 
Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
For what it's worth, I tend to think that the cover may change.
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Probably, because there's no image of it on Amazon...
 
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Purple Stickpin

Purple Stickpin

per Cirerita's post of the review:

It seems that noone in the literary establishment or critical camp can compliment Buk without simultaneously insulting him. But overall, a nice sentiment. And to recognize "unpretentious" is right up there.
 
Gerard K H Love

Gerard K H Love

Appreciate your friends
I was under the impression that bukowski.net has always been the official Bukowski web site. It's nice to hear it's being made official.
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
I finished reading Condition this morning, and I have to say it left me cold. When it is released we can start a new thread about it, so I won't say more for now.

Except that they changed (typoed?) clotted to dotted in "I Saw a Tramp Last Night." And Martin added one of his suck-ass lines on page one just so we would know who was steering the ship, and...
 
cirerita

cirerita

Founding member
Well, to be honest, most posthumous collections are not very good to begin with. There are great poems here and there but, as collections, I find them weak. I did not even finish The People Look Like Flowers At Last... and that's the only B. book I have not read from A to Z. I was very busy at the time, and I thought that was the reason of leaving the book unfinished. But then I realized that I had read many B. books on busy times as well, and I couldn't put them down. So either I've grown up or the posthumous collections are below average.

Well, now that Bukowski is gone, and I was the one who re-discovered "I Saw a Tramp Last Night", and I know there's no available MSS of that poem with changes made by B., we should know who changed "clotted" to "dotted." What was the name of that secretary at Ecco, again? :D
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
Well, I think we know that Martin, and not the secretary added the line, "and blink," to the second stanza of Died 9 April 1553, because it has the same stink as his amateurish changes to Women.

Note to all you "editors" out there: adding your own lines in not editing.

Sometimes I want to kiss John Martin full on the lips, and sometimes I want to kick him in the nuts. Is that Wrong? Ha ha.
 
cirerita

cirerita

Founding member
I thought you were being sarcastic before, but it actually makes sense to think that the "clotted" to "dotted" change might be a typo. I didn't see that before.

Anyway, I have not read Condition, but I suspect it will be similar to the other posthumous collections. Too bad if that's the case because I think to recall that "Bayonets in Candlelight" was a solid poem (though I read it 5 or 6 years ago), and some of the Wormie selections are (were) ok to me.
 
Johannes

Johannes

Founding member
mjp said:
Well, I think we know that Martin, and not the secretary added the line, "and blink," to the second stanza of Died 9 April 1553, because it has the same stink as his amateurish changes to Women.

Note to all you "editors" out there: adding your own lines in not editing.

Sometimes I want to kiss John Martin full on the lips, and sometimes I want to kick him in the nuts. Is that Wrong? Ha ha.
Click to expand...

"Sometimes the typist gets bored and throws something in", or what was that?
 
marina del rey

marina del rey

I've read it and thought that it was pretty good for a posthumous collection. Of course, the assumption there is that the posthumous stuff is generally not as good.

I was also glad to see that Bottle of Smoke Press got a shout-out on one of the first pages.
 
Purple Stickpin

Purple Stickpin

It's my understanding that many of the coveted, otherwise unpublished Wormwood Review poems are in there. Mixed feelings about that. I was rather smug about having some poems that many people did not have; that's partly why I bought so many Wormwoods. But it's also my opinion that many of the poems Buk submitted to Wormwood were not his best. Good, but not great. So be it. The words are all valuble.
 
PBBUK

PBBUK

The Continual Condition: Poems

I just received an e-mail from amazon.com stating the release for this new Bukowski book has been brought forward to 15 October. I love a new Buk hardback!!!
 
nervas

nervas

more crickets than friends
9780061771200.jpg


Would this then, be the final cover?
 
bospress.net

bospress.net

www.bospress.net
wow. They seemed to have gone in a completely different direction with that cover.

But, I agree. The green should be blue or red. Even a darker green...

Bill
 
BANZSI

BANZSI

continual condition proof

i bought an proof edition and i am an little bit disapointed.
because the book is so thin, only 124 pages.
there could be more poems into it.

BUK(1).jpg
 
bospress.net

bospress.net

www.bospress.net
I'm sure that someone here will buy it if you are not happy with it. It is thin, but there were a few other volumes that were as thin (Play the piano drunk comes to mind).

Bill
 
bogdan

bogdan

cirerita said:
Well, to be honest, most posthumous collections are not very good to begin with. There are great poems here and there but, as collections, I find them weak. I did not even finish The People Look Like Flowers At Last... and that's the only B. book I have not read from A to Z. I was very busy at the time, and I thought that was the reason of leaving the book unfinished. But then I realized that I had read many B. books on busy times as well, and I couldn't put them down. So either I've grown up or the posthumous collections are below average.
Click to expand...

You've grown up :)
During the last month or so I've read 4 of the posthumous collections - "Slouching Toward Nirvana", "The People Look Like Flowers At Last", "Come On In" and "The Flash Of Lightning Behind The Mountain" and for me they worked really great, all of them. I especially liked the poems written in his last years, when he felt that the end is getting closer and there are plenty of such poems, many of them just brilliant. I think about death every day and I'm not that old, so maybe that's why I could relate to these poems. There are also fillers, no doubt about it, but overall I think the quality of these collections is decent. Then, of course, I'm not an authority in poetry and/or Bukowski, so it may be only my enthusiasm. Anyway, can't wait for "The Continual Condition" to be available.
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
The cover with the drawings is a bit of a quickie turd pile. If they have dumped the original design I suspect they couldn't get a high resolution scan of the desk picture. Or at least couldn't get one on their ridiculous schedule.

The second version reminds me of a Wormwood cover (no offense to WWR, Malone was working within technical limitations). It's just laziness and lack of giving a damn about this marginal little book of scrap poems. But I wouldn't expect any more from a big corporation. I'm sure someone in a cubicle somewhere has another someone yelling at them; "Just get it out the door! It's a book, not a god damn Picasso!"
 
Hosh

Hosh

hoshomccreesh.com
mjp said:
Except that they changed (typoed?) clotted to dotted in "I Saw a Tramp Last Night."
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Making the official BoSP broadside highly collectible! You heard it hear--at the official Bukowski website--first, folks!

Ugh.

Sure a "cl" can look like a "d"--but dotted fur vs. clotted fur...that's just no damn good...
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
BANZSI said:
i bought an proof edition and i am an little bit disapointed.
Click to expand...
bospress.net said:
I'm sure that someone here will buy it if you are not happy with it.
Click to expand...
Now that they have changed the cover, the proof will probably end up being more valuable than it otherwise would have.

There are zero copies on ABE or eBay at the moment, so I would hang on to it if I were you. Disappointed or not.
 
C

conl

I agree that the posthumous books aren't as good as the ones from his lifetime, but I can usually find at least one or two poems in them that work for me, and to get anything "new" from a man who's been dead so long is still pretty amazing.
Buk always gave the impression that he didn't care what Martin did with his stuff once he turned it in anyway, though, and you guys seem a bit catty on this subject.
Really, who cares what the words are wrapped in?
That's like bitching about the box a present came in instead of being thankful for the gift.
 
cirerita

cirerita

Founding member
mjp said:
...this marginal little book of scrap poems...
Click to expand...

Save for a few poems, I have to agree with mjp here -and no, I'm not mellowing out ;) I read the book on the flight from Frisco to Tucson and it left me kind of cold. Most of the poems are about B sitting in his San Pedro room, reminiscing about things. Kinda of his Mariposa Ave. or DeLongpre poems as an "observer", but these observations are not that powerful. Ya know, in my opinion.

This is one of the very few books where it's kind of easy to spot the old poems (pre 1970 ones) as there are very few and they stand in stark contrast to the late ones.
 
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