Staff Pick
No matter how you feel about the writing of Charles Bukowski, there's no denying he's become a much-emulated and lauded author of mid- to late-century American literature and poetry. This volume of Bukowski's letters to friends and colleagues reveals his thoughts on the process of creation in an intimate and open way. Recommended By Jen C., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Sharp and moving reflections and ruminations on the artistry and craft of writing from one of our most iconoclastic, pivoting, and celebrated masters.
Charles Bukowski's stories, poems, and novels have left an enduring mark on our culture. In this collection of previously unpublished material — letters to publishers, editors, friends, and fellow writers — Bukowski shares his insights on the art of creation.
On Writing reveals an artist brutally frank about the drudgery of work and canny and uncompromising about the absurdities of life& — and of art. It illuminates the hard-edged, complex humanity of a true American legend and countercultural icon — the "laureate of American lowlife" (Time)—who stoically recorded society's downtrodden and depraved. It exposes an artist grounded in the visceral, whose work reverberates with his central ideal: "Don't try."
Piercing, poignant, and often hilarious, On Writing is filled not only with memorable lines but also with Bukowski's trademark toughness, leavened with moments of grace, pathos, and intimacy.
Review
"Always passionate, frequently funny, occasionally incoherent excerpts from a significant 20th-century American writer." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"By turns, the poets letters are humorous, boastful, self-deprecating, and angry at the world, but they are always entertaining. VERDICT: Bukowski fans will welcome this new collection tied to the celebration of what would have been his 95th birthday." Library Journal
About the Author
Charles Bukowski is one of America's best-known contemporary writers of poetry and prose and, many would claim, its most influential and imitated poet. He was born in 1920 in Andernach, Germany, to an American soldier father and a German mother, and brought to the United States at the age of two. He was raised in Los Angeles and lived there for over fifty years. He died in San Pedro, California on March 9, 1994, at the age of seventy-three, shortly after completing his last novel, Pulp.