Bukowski, Charles (redirected from Charles Bukowski)

Bukowski, Charles, 1920–94, American underground poet and fiction writer, b. Andernach, Germany. His family immigrated to the United States in 1922, settling in Los Angeles. A hard-drinking unskilled worker and sometime denizen of skid row, Bukowski published his first short stories in the 1940s and earliest book of poetry in 1959. Ferociously bleak in their portrayal of life in general and Los Angeles in particular, his usually self-referential, often angry poetry and prose typically depicts alcoholics, drug addicts, criminals, prostitutes, and other outcasts. During the 1960s he became an outsider hero, lauded by Sartre, Genet, and other literary celebrities. Many of Bukowski's "dirty realist" works feature as protagonist his alter ego, the womanizing tough-guy Henry Chinaski; they include the novels Post Office (1971) and Ham on Rye (1982). He wrote more than 40 volumes of poetry (some published posthumously), six novels, and several short-story collections as well as the screenplay for the semiautobiographical film Barfly (1987).

Bibliography

See his selected letters (3 vol., 1993–99); D. Weitzmann, Drinking with Bukowski: Recollections of the Poet Laureate of Skid Row (2000); biographies by N. Cherkovski (rev. ed. 1997), H. Sounes (1999), M. G. Baughan (2004), and B. Miles (2006); studies by H. Fox (1968), J. Sherman (1982), R. Harrison (1994), G. Locklin (1995), J. J. Smith, ed. (1995), G. Brewer and F. Day, ed. (1997), J. Christy (1997), J. Thomas (1997), and B. Pleasants (2004); bibliography by A. Krumhansi (1999).

---

Bukowski, Charles

(born Aug. 16, 1920, Andernach, Ger.—died March 9, 1994, San Pedro, Calif., U.S.) German-born U.S. poet, short-story writer, and novelist. His family immigrated to Los Angeles in 1922. He began publishing short stories in the mid 1940s. His first poetry collection, Flower, Fist and Bestial Wail, appeared in 1959, and the poetry volumes he published regularly for the next few years earned a devoted cult following. His novels include Post Office (1971) and Factotum (1975); he also wrote the screenplay for the film Barfly (1987), a semiautobiographical comedy about alcoholic lovers. The novel Hollywood (1989) dealt with its filming. His writing, often scurrilous but humorous, frequently reflected his perpetually down-and-out mode of existence.

---

Bukowski, Charles (1920–  ) poet, writer; born in Andernach, Germany. His family emigrated to America (1922), and he grew up in California, attended Los Angeles City College (1939–41), and settled in Santa Barbara. Considered an underground writer, he has produced witty and sardonic poetry, short stories, and novels.