The New Generation of Buk readers

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TheSlowPlay

I was in the bookstore yesterday going through their crummy selection when a young teen: sporty looking, bottle water in hand, swim team shirt,etc. asked an employee if they had any Bukowski.

i laughed out loud. and walked out appalled by this "sport-o" looking for beloved Buk.

i realize that fresh new people will be introduced to Buk whether it be through mainstream (sadly, the Modest Mouse song "Bukowski") or from word of mouth. but does anyone else feel that holding onto someone like Bukowski as a favorite writer for years and then having it taken away by a new generation just feels degrading, and maybe prideful?
i know that my pride hits hard when someone mentioned to me "hey, i'm reading a "Buk" book that i saw you were reading currently on your blog." And i couldn't muster up the guts to tell them, Buk is not the last name, but nickname and to try again or walk away...
 
bright

bright

there were always lots of people who think hank is just some machoPornoWriter and read him therefore.
They generally never get behind the obvious.
 
hank solo

hank solo

Just practicin' steps and keepin' outta the fights
Moderator
Founding member
When you are interested in anything that seems a little bit alternative, cult, exclusive or just down right unpopular, there's always the slim chance that a movie will come out about it/them/him/her or a rock star will wear a cheap bootleg t-shirt of her/him/them/whatever and then you're suddenly in with the incrowd.

This doesn't take anything away from Bukowski for me.

Despite the recent trend on ebay I'm sure we'll be seeing prices for rare items going up again soon. Or if not the rare items, the plain everyday items might just leap up again, just like TMF first appeared and started buying anything and everything twice...

Look on the bright side... you know where its at!

Maybe I'll tell my kids - 'Hey, I'm with it!' :cool:
 
D

dkcreator

irony

Your post reminded me of the feeling I had when Modest Mouse became popular after I had been listening to them for years. My friends would cringe every time they came into the car and I would have them on the radio. Now every time I get into their cars I cringe when I hear a modest mouse song on their raido. It just dosent seem right.

Two different thoughts with identical subjects.
crazy:eek:
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
Get used to it. Bukowski is only going to become more popular as time goes on. A new generation will "discover" him every 20 years, and that's great.

Think about it - most of us are probably second or even third generation fans. Raise your hand if you were reading his poems in the 1940's...yeah, that's what I thought. ;)
 
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slimedog

I think it's great if anybody is checking out Bukowski and it's even better if it's someone who doesn't look like they'd ask for him. Just goes to show the times are changing and the mainstream is becoming more accepting to non-mainstream ideas. I grew up in punk music and I'm glad that kids are listening to punk, even watered down than the pure pop trash around.

As much as I disliked the movie Factotum if it gets a few people to check out Bukowski I'm all for it, weather they get him or not it can only do them good.
 
Janie Bookowski

Janie Bookowski

:( Um, I'm 17. So I guess that's me you're talking about...

But I'm not a sportsfreak. If anything, I'm a stereotypical bookwork-type, which is what I'd expect more Bukowski fans to be, honestly.

I'm also a girl, which is also apparently a rarity.
 
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SamDusky

Founding member
All I can say is, young lady, welcome. I think I speak on behalf of Bukowski?s ghost and myself when I say he loved to have women who read around, that is, come around and say hello. And, from the few words you have written, I can see you are a person of taste and discernment. So (and I pretty sure you?re not a 46 year old male pipefitter from Detroit, but if you are?what the hell, why not) don?t let the curmudgeons around here put you off; we?re all Bozos on this bus, so welcome again. Happy to have you aboard.

SD
 
HenryChinaski

HenryChinaski

Founding member
people...bukowski isnt getting famous because of any of the modest mouse songs, "bukowski" or "long distance drunk".

Anybody can read him. the people who want to delve into his depths are the ones that will become more knowledgeable than others. thats all.
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
Janie Bookowski said:
I'm also a girl, which is also apparently a rarity.
Click to expand...
Less common, but not a rarity.

I posted the other day about a guy I work with who is just discovering Bukowski, and it was his new girlfriend who turned him onto him.

I also first heard of Bukowski through a female friend, so you're not alone.
 
Olaf

Olaf

I came across Bukowski by complete chance...without knowing a thing about him...he was completely new to me...proably aroudn 1999/2000 someone sent me a poem of his via Yahoo Chat (how postmodern!) it was 'for jane' and I was taken by a few of the lines...I went out and bought - What Matters Most Is How Well You Walk Through The Fire - and from the moment on I have been a Student of his...
 
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thebluesman

Founding member
I'm nineteen and have been reading him for a solid two years now. I discovered him through a friend who found him in his step-dad's book collection. I still remember the first Buk poem I ever read, "So you want to be a writer?" from Sifting... I have never been the same.

Bukowski has probably taught me more than any one.

I can say that I apprieciate him at least as much as any of you "2nd or 3rd generation" Buk fans.
 
1fsh2fsh

1fsh2fsh

I think that I think too much
Founding member
I can remember well, (maybe not really well) the late sixteys when alot of "our" anti-establishment/counterculture/peoples bands were discovered by the dreaded straight kids,the (ugh) mainstream. always felt like something was lost or stolen. a slight bruise to the ego, thinking that "we" knew something that "they" didn't. now i recently heard the airplanes "volunteers" (maybe the most blantant anti-establishment song.) used in a investment companys commercial. now thats real blasphemy! (they'll never use the MC5 !) and so now goes it with "our" Bukowski (sigh). and no, i havent been reading buk since the 40's, but since the mid seventys, probably longer than many members have been alive, and i guess maybe that doesn't mean shit, but if i could ask one thing of all the "new" bukowski fans it would be this: if your truley interested in Buk, take some time, make an effort to learn about Bukowski as a person, look into his life history, you will see a deeper more profound side to the words he wrote, real passion and compassion from a dark genius. and if your interested in buk cause some hollywood asshole convinced your shallow small easily duped little brain that this is the thing to do this season,do us all a favor, please quit now, get the fuck out, you wont understand anyway, "dont try".....uh,...thanks.......(sure,yr boy)
 
Olaf

Olaf

mjp said:
You really should do something more constructive with your life...
Click to expand...
I work a job.

I write for various small time magazines and write poetry ever chance i can.

You're right, I should do something more constructive with my life - I'm working hard on it (but this has nothing to do with bukowski).

I am a student of his. I read his books and listen to he writes.But I don't worship him as a diety. :)
 
theeffects

theeffects

TheSlowPlay said:
I was in the bookstore yesterday...
Click to expand...

One question;
Who really cares what 'another' likes, reads, listens to...?
Hopefully as an individual, you read/purchase what you enjoy, want. I don't care if the person I dislike the most on the face of the earth buys or asks me for info on BUK. BUKOWSKI is not, has not yet become an exclusive club (and if it does, I want out!). There are lemmings who will be told FACTOTUM is amazing you should watch it and buy the book, and they do (who cares?!). Then there are others who will 'want more', begin to wonder what Notes of a Dirty Old Man or Bukowski.net is...
Laughing out-loud and being annoyed by sport-o is more a negative reflection on yourself then some stranger that should not even be on your radar.
 
Janie Bookowski

Janie Bookowski

SamDusky said:
All I can say is, young lady, welcome. I think I speak on behalf of Bukowski?s ghost and myself when I say he loved to have women who read around, that is, come around and say hello. And, from the few words you have written, I can see you are a person of taste and discernment. So (and I pretty sure you?re not a 46 year old male pipefitter from Detroit, but if you are?what the hell, why not) don?t let the curmudgeons around here put you off; we?re all Bozos on this bus, so welcome again. Happy to have you aboard.

SD
Click to expand...

Thank you, fwiend. :)

I do think a lot of "new" fans are popping up all over the place. You can't just blame the music and movies that Bukowski's name appears in, though; a lot of people won't approve of the themes in his writing.
 
Melissa Sue

Melissa Sue

Founding member
short answer - it's good art. it will stick to every generation.

doesn't every artist want their voice to continue? immortality. i want to paint something that sticks like a buk poem.
 
oneiros

oneiros

Well. That anyone actually agrees with SlowPlay here is what appalls me. You judge people by what they wear? Bukowski would laugh right in your face.

So what if he's sporting a swimming tee? So what if he is under forty years old? You only judge people by what they DO. If the guy wanted Bukowski that makes him a decent chap or at least on a good way there in my book.

Those people wanting Buk to stay underground really grinds my gears. I mean, the more people reading Buk, the more money Linda will be making. And good for her, she was a good woman to the man.

Also, more people reading Buk is a sign that people are getting better and more insightful than before. I for one is simply happy that people turn to Bukowski, Burroughs, London, Palauchnik (I never spell that right) etc. People reading quality stuff= better society.
 
poptop

poptop

The Last Laugh

TheSlowPlay said:
....does anyone else feel that holding onto someone like Bukowski as a favorite writer for years and then having it taken away by a new generation just feels degrading, and maybe prideful?....
Click to expand...

The way I see it, optimist that I am, is that some of these people may be the ones who need or benefit from Bukowski the most: to see how the other half lives. Though I understand what you mean, I think Bukowski is not something that can be taken away. If you get deeply enough into the material, it becomes part of you and its beneficial effects become impervious to rot, mildew, or theft. On the other hand, if readers are approaching Buk's stuff only because it's fashionable, they'll soon fall by the wayside, or so I believe. What I feel to be the important thing is that as many of his book titles stay in print as possible so I don't feel cut off at a future time... Some of these new readers might also catch on and realize that Bukowski is talking about them, and not as a complement. Riches and advantages are not enough to innoculate anyone from the black swan of human misery burning in the hinterlands.
 
Swagger

Swagger

I remember when some Bukowski fans got upset about Axl Rose wearing a Buk t-shirt and getting that crowd into the books. It might be a natural tendency to want to keep 'cool' stuff to yourself, but really, the more readers a writer can get the better.
 
P

penelope5683

We should be saying that its more people from every generation that are becoming interested in Buk. In college Lit. and Eng. and Adv. Writing, I never remember hearing about Buk- or reading him. So I think the people that pick him up are either by word of mouth or something they stumbled into which makes them more of an elite base of fans.
 
Ninjerk

Ninjerk

1fsh2fsh said:
now i recently heard the airplanes "volunteers" (maybe the most blantant anti-establishment song.) used in a investment companys commercial. now thats real blasphemy! (they'll never use the MC5 !)
Click to expand...

There was a jeans commercial (American Eagle?) with a bunch of young people standing in the sun and waving an American flag to "Fortunate Son." They cut it off right before Fogerty sings, "It aint me."

There was also a politician doing a rally with "Born in the USA" as a backdrop. Funny isn't it?

penelope5683 said:
We should be saying that its more people from every generation that are becoming interested in Buk. In college Lit. and Eng. and Adv. Writing, I never remember hearing about Buk- or reading him. So I think the people that pick him up are either by word of mouth or something they stumbled into which makes them more of an elite base of fans.
Click to expand...

I think it's a mixture of xenophobia and elitism. Most are guilty of it at one time or another.
 
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