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Original Essays | April 18, 2013

Jon Bell: IMG The Trails We've Tread

0 comments By Jon Bell

They have been on the move for the past half-year or so now, starting from their longtime home in the downstairs closet, on to my desk, then to my... Continue »
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Notes of a Dirty Old Man

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Notes of a Dirty Old Man Cover

ISBN13: 9780872860742
ISBN10: 0872860744
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Staff Pick

"Bukowski. You either love him or hate him. This is one of his best collections of short stories — raunchy, sodden, and bloated. Enjoy."
Recommended by Chris Faatz, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

"People come to my door — too many of them really — and knock to tell me Notes of a Dirty Old Man turns them on. A bum off the road brings in a gypsy and his wife and we talk...drink half the night. A long distance operator from Newburgh, N.Y. sends me money. She wants me to give up drinking beer and to eat well. I hear from a madman who calls himself 'King Arthur' and lives on Vine Street in Hollywood and wants to help me write my column. A doctor comes to my door: 'I read your column and think I can help you. I used to be a Psychiatrist.' I send him away...".

Synopsis:

Bukowski takes on the guise of the wise fool in this novel, describing the futility and beauty of life.
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About the Author

Charles Bukowski was born in Andernach, Germany in 1920 and brought to Los Angeles at age three. Using the city as a backdrop for his work, Bukowski wrote prolifically, publishing over fifty volumes of poetry and prose. He died in San Pedro, California on March 9, 1994. His books are widely translated and posthumous volumes continue to appear.
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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Michelleyevshky, May 30, 2007 (view all comments by Michelleyevshky)
"Notes of a Dirty Old Man" is a haphazard, unfortunately redundant and angry collection of rants by an undeniably gifted writer and poet. Bukowski heaves his heavy bagful of words off his back in an angry plop--then deserts that bag entirely in favor of the bottle, leaving whatever shards of "spirit" within to be stirred in with the silt.

If you like, or can weather, reading about masturbating with a phone mouthpiece or killing someone with a typewriter, you've met your match. Why do I give this a two if I find it so disgusting? Well, Bukowski is a genius. The angry bitter mumbling of a madman sometimes subsides away and into the madness of spirit and beauty. (Strangely, I don't doubt the cutesy family film "Angels In the Outfield" was jacked from this collection. There have been stranger things, but not many.) He sums it up well in these clarified, aching words: "...all the hard poems; he'd played hard-man all his life but he was soft. everybody was soft, really--the hard was only there to protect the soft."

I think he tried to shake his audience off him like a bad hangover. If that's what he was trying to do, he did a good job of it.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780872860742
Author:
Bukowski, Charles
Publisher:
City Lights Books
Location:
San Francisco
Subject:
General
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
United states
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
1969
Edition Number:
2
Edition Description:
Trade Paper
Series Volume:
no. 12
Publication Date:
November 1973
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
204
Dimensions:
8 x 5.5 x 0.6 in 9.5 oz
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Related Subjects

Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z

Notes of a Dirty Old Man New Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$15.95 In Stock
Product details 204 pages City Lights Publishers - English 9780872860742 Reviews:
"Staff Pick" by ,

"Bukowski. You either love him or hate him. This is one of his best collections of short stories — raunchy, sodden, and bloated. Enjoy."

by Chris Faatz
"Synopsis" by , Bukowski takes on the guise of the wise fool in this novel, describing the futility and beauty of life.
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