The New Generation of Buk readers

[alex]

Well, as a young bukowski reader, at twenty2 i feel that he is as powerful for fucks my age as he is for any other. he tells it true, inspiring, awful, exact. it's just the way it has to be. no more. no less. hey yeah but you all know that anyway. ah, well he certainly wrote in a way that speaks to every generation- maybe not everyone IN every generation, and the "sport-o" does not sound like anyone i've met my age that reads Buk but hey. i don't know. i never know. i just...well, fuck it. Bukowski is deep, true to the human situation, spirit, and shit.
cheers

 

[cheap gin]

Yea, I guess I'm one of those "new generation of 'Buk' readers." I'm pushing 40, pushing my beltline outward, and pushing through life, badly.

I never really had an idea who Bukowski was, and then, lo and behold, I come across the movie FACTOTUM. I guess that makes me the type of reader SlowPlay is "appalled by." I got him from the movie.

Thing is, the movie led to the book, which has now led to me buying three more...who knows what next.

What does it matter how we are introduced...what matters is what we read...and in my case, are.

You see, I had to get the book because Chinaski spoke to me (even in the movie). I am, in effect, a shadow of the man. I read most of the book sitting in a poorly lit bar at a cheesey Mexican restaurant selling crap food to crap, phoney people (they actually gave me a "free" glass with my beer that they only charged me an extra buck for- and not one for each beer, one total).

I don't like whiskey as much (though it'll do in a pinch), gin is my preferred poison, and I have held the occasional job (going on 6 months with this one, longest in 5 years), but I understand and "feel" Bukowski quiet well. Maybe I don't "get" him as well as I "should" to be a true "Buk" fan, but then I really don't give a crap about being a "Buk" kinda guy.

I honestly don't care if you are offended by others taking your "in" thing away from you. Truth is, it was never yours in the first place. Get over it, or don't.

I need another drink, this one's dry.

 

[Jerzy]

In a Tee shirt....haha that was me a few years ago....
When I played hoops in university (before I fell head over heels for hallucinogenics, got a 0.0, failed out, and became a missionary) I wasn't just the only white dude on the bus but the only one reading Henry Miller as Public Enemy and Iced T were blaring all around me.

Then after that I was living and working with priests, brothers, sisters, other missionaries reading Rimbaud, Isadore Ducasse, Patchen...

then after that.....

what was it Buk said...
something like

True revolution is only born from true revulsion
then the kitten eats the lion
(bad misquote)

Who's the kitten?

Who knows?????

 

[ROC]

What does it matter how we are introduced...what matters is what we read...and in my case, are.

I honestly don't care if you are offended by others taking your "in" thing away from you. Truth is, it was never yours in the first place. Get over it, or don't.

Just so cheap gin... just so. :)

 

[cannotski]

you make a grand point.

Cheers to you!!!!!!!!

 

[jordan]

what should a bukowski reader look and dress like? i didn't realize that we were in high school again... to read bukowski you have to look down and out, and to hang with the football jocks, you have to have nice jeans. sheesh. reminds me of the story where no one at the lexus dealership would talk to bukowski because he didn't fit the profile of a rich guy. if i saw a sporty looking guy reading bukowski, i'd assume that he was into exercise and good poetry. what the shit is wrong with that?

 

[MickMoney]

I don't necessarily think it's bad that someone sporty would read Bukowski. It might change his perspective on things. Who knows he might have some deep seeded suffering. If you worried about the Bukowski sub culture becoming main stream, like Che Guevera, I welcome it. Viva Bukowski...

 

[MickMoney]

I don't necessarily think it's bad that someone sporty would read Bukowski. It might change his perspective on things. Who knows he might have some deep seeded suffering. If you worried about the Bukowski sub culture becoming main stream, like Che Guevera, I welcome it. Viva La Bukowski...

 

[jose leitao]

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...

Actually I'm not sure if there are different generations of Bukowski readers which build on a cyclical basis? I always prefer to think that there is a continuum of people who are drawn to his art (as well as to any other artist or writer), and gravitate around it for a given amount of time.

Some rest in a steady orbit (like us), others move on, others are just meteors which touch and go, totally unmarked by it, but maybe returning every decade or so... :D

(Damn, somebody stop me with the metaphors here.)

After all, I only discovered Bukowski in 96 or so. He was already long gone, but listening to Tom Waits, helped me gravitate to Buk somehow. I already had read some Beat poets, I liked to read alternate poetry, and I got hooked. Now I have a couple CDs, a DVD and a dozen books...

I don't know if people who discovered Buk earlier, for instance 1990, were a different generation than me, or if people discovering it today are people who will not gain the same understanding and/or taste for it which I have, or even deeper.

Certainly in his own time, when Bukowski was still alive and rising to some notoriety, there were also people sampling his poetry and some liked it, others moved on.

What matters most is trying it at least once, and see if you like it.
I encourage all new readers to find this website and to watch/listen to Bukowski audio and video. Some friends have entered the orbit of PLANET BUK due to my pointing finger. But the love they felt for the material was all theirs.

THIS WAY TO BUKOWSKI!;) STEP RIGHT UP!

PS: btw, I know you didn't mean it that way, but laughing at the guy, could have discouraged the guy to pursue his Buk readings. We really can't judge a book by its cover...

 

[poptop]

Good post, Jose!

 

[Bob Dylan]

You either get Bukowski or you don't it's got nothing to do with the clothes you wear. Tom Wait's songs are not just about down and outs but also people with middle class jobs such as salesmen who inhabit late night bars wonderin how it all went wrong.

 

[cannotski]

Hey, you. No one is TAKING Bukowski away from you! I understand your pride. Let the rest of the pied-piper rats and the assorted band-wagon freaks move on to read the latest volume of Chicken-soup for the Soul.

 

[Ninjerk]

I don't necessarily think it's bad that someone sporty would read Bukowski. It might change his perspective on things. Who knows he might have some deep seeded suffering. If you worried about the Bukowski sub culture becoming main stream, like Che Guevera, I welcome it. Viva La Bukowski...

Well, as it stands Bukowski isn't exactly as iconic as Che Guevara (you don't see skater kids wearing shirts with his face on it). Not to mention (as I've read briefly) Che Guevara's only real milestone was participating in Castro's revolution and failing at making any of his own.

 

[ClingFoil]

I'm sure the man turns over in his grave just knowing he has this possessive fan who looks like you who is despairing over the fact that people who don't look like you are buying his books. I think you would've inspired a rude poem.