Charles Bukowski

Background

On August 16, 1920, in Andernach, Germany, Henry Charles Bukowski was born to Heinrich Henry Bukowski and Katharina Bukwoski. They eventually moved to the South Central district of Los Angeles. Given his father’s abuse, nasty comments from neighborhood boys, and the Great Depression, his early childhood memories were traumatic. He attended Los Angeles City College to explore his interests in art, journalism, and literature after graduating from Los Angeles High School. He dropped out of college after two years to pursue a blue-collar career in New York.

In 1944, he had his first work published, a short story called “Aftermath of a Lengthy Rejection.” “20 Tanks from Kasseldown,” his second short fiction, was published in 1946. Bukowski embarked on a personal 10-year trip after not finding any success with his printed writings. Excessive drinking and travel characterized the period. The groundwork for his later semi-autobiographical novels was laid throughout this period. Bukowski was given a second chance in 1955 after recuperating from a serious bleeding ulcer that nearly killed him. After his near-death experience, he continued his literary career, penning poetry.

His poetry and short stories, which were mostly semi-autobiographical and revolved around the life of an indigent writer Henry Chinaski, quickly earned him cult status. “Flower, Fist, and Bestial Wail,” his first book of poetry, was published in 1959. The book received a lot of praise for its free verses that beautifully captured the feeling of desolation and abandonment. That same year, he came up with his best-known essay, “Manifesto: A Call for Own Critics.” Bukowski thrived in his career writing several pieces including poetry collections, columns in magazines and newspapers, novels, e.t.c. In 1969, he accepted the offer by Black Sparrow Press of becoming a full-time writer, which led him to quit his post office job for good. He finished his semi-autobiographical debut novel, “Post Office,” a month later. Bukowski’s literary career took off in the 1970s, when he produced a large body of work, both in poetry and fiction, that was published by small independent presses. Bukowski debuted in the screenwriting field in the 1980s with the film “Barfly,” which was released in 1984.

Bukowski married Barbara Frye, a poet from a small Texas town, in 1955. In 1958, the marriage ended in divorce. His live-in girlfriend, Francis Smith, and he later had a daughter named Marina Louise. In 1985, he married Linda Lee Beighle for the second time. Bukowski died of leukemia in San Pedro on March 9, 1994, at the age of 73, just after finishing his final novel, “Pulp.” “Pulp,” like his last poetry collection, “The Last Night of the Earth Poems,” dealt with the subject of mortality via a stinging sense of humor.