Notes of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski

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As with anything written by Bukowski, I wouldn't recommend it to you if you're easily offended or overtly PC. This certainly won't be an enjoyable read for you if you're either of the aforementioned.

This book has reconfirmed for me the fact that Bukowski is best at this form of writing - short stories. His poetry can be very hit and miss at times but his short story prose is more often good than bad and sometimes exceptionally fascinating and quirky. It's raw stuff, with little to no care put in for structural cohesion. At one point, Bukowski states that he is aware that his narration is switching between tenses, and tells the reader that, if they care, they can "shove a nipple up their scrotum." This doesn't even make anatomical sense. This is the one that made me think Bukowski wasn't just another pretentious scruffy looking poet-writer. And the impression it made on me was inestimable. It was the same reaction I had when I read those other `notes' from that other 'sky, the man himself, Fyodor Dostoevsky.The author Bukowski used to write the column "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" for the newspaper Open City (which I never heard of obviously)... One day, someone decided to tell him "hey why not compile them and publish them as a book"... I wish I can find that person so that I can ask him/her "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!”. I'm not telling you not to read this book. I’m not calling for anyone to “cancel” Bukowski. I’m just writing honestly about my feelings about this book and Buk in general. urn:lcp:notesofdirtyoldm00buko:lcpdf:9411d777-b2d6-4048-8e0e-36a5a9f261c9 Extramarc Columbia University Libraries Foldoutcount 0 Identifier notesofdirtyoldm00buko Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t9z05rm5f Invoice 11 Isbn 0872860744

urn:isbn:0862870747 Republisher_date 20140430045757 Republisher_operator [email protected] Scandate 20140429095637 Scanner scribe11.shenzhen.archive.org Scanningcenter shenzhen Worldcat (source edition) Scream When You Burn - https://bukowski.net/database/detail.php?w=5654&Title=notes-of-a-dirty-old-man Most of this book is lively and entertaining. There is an uncharacteristically mean story with a character named Harry Benson. But Bukowski makes up for it with an account of life with an old couple - Crotty's which is very touching. And then there is a somewhat long short story which eventually became Hollywood. Thrown into these situations, via all you know of the man prior, you cannot believe him when he tells you what he does. So either all he said before was a lie, or this is a new resignation of the spirit to drink. How terrible.

Bukowski writes like a latter-day Celine, a wise fool talking straight from the gut about the futility and beauty of life . . ." ― Publishers Weekly Decline And Fall - https://bukowski.net/database/displayContents.php?mag=856&Title=los-angeles-weekly-news Strokes To Nowhere - https://bukowski.net/database/detail.php?w=5668&Title=notes-of-a-dirty-old-man but I’ve got an old saying (I make up old sayings as I walk around in rags) that knowledge without follow-through is worse than no knowledge at all. because if you’re guessing and it doesn’t work you can just say, shit, the gods are against me. but if you know and don’t do, you’ve got attics and dark halls in your mind to walk up and down in and wonder about.” He used language like a painter of souls. Words were blood from his heart. Liquid, burning prose. Rantings from the mind of a real loner. I understand that on a deep level.