A compilation of Charles Bukowski's underground articles from his column
Notes of a Dirty Old Man appears here in book form. Bukowski's reasoning
for self-describing himself as a 'dirty old man' rings true in this
book.
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
. . .
Bukowski writes like a latter-day Celine, a wise fool talking straight
from the gut about the futility and beauty of life . . . --Publishers
Weekly
These disjointed stories gives us a glimpse into the brilliant and
highly disturbed mind of a man who will drink anything, hump anything
and say anything without the slightest tinge of embarassment, shame or
remorse. It's actually pretty hard not to like the guy after reading a
few of these semi-ranting short stories. --Greg Davidson,
curiculummag.com
Charles Bukowski was born in Andernach, Germany on August 16, 1920, the
only child of an American soldier and a German mother. Bukowski
published his first story when he was twenty-four and began writing
poetry at the age of thirty-five. His first book of poetry was published
in 1959; he went on to publish more than forty-five books of poetry and
prose, including Pulp (Black Sparrow, 1994), Screams from the
Balcony: Selected Letters 1960-1970 (1993), and The Last Night of the
Earth Poems (1992). Other Bukowski books published by City Lights
Publishers include More Notes of a Dirty Old Man, The Most Beautiful
Woman in Town, Tales of Ordinary Madness, Portions from a
Wine-Stained Notebook, and Absence of the Hero. He died of leukemia
in San Pedro on March 9, 1994.
