What makes Charles Bukowski a great writer?

[Droopy]

I've heard lots of people say that they like Bukowski. The only knock on him I've heard is that some people consider him sexist. Bukowski seemed like an equal opportunity hater. I don't think he cared for a lot of men, either. When I think of Bukowski "nice" doesn't enter my mind. But I have read 3 books of poetry by Bukowski, had one partially read to me, and watched a documentary about him. He may not have been nice, but he was pretty entertaining.

I got to thinking about Bukowski when I realized that a little deal I wrote the other day sounded very much like something he would write. I don't ever think about him when I write, but it wouldn't be honest to say he wasn't an influence- subconsciously or otherwise.

But why do many consider him a great writer? His style is very simple and easy to understand. It's not like he developed a new form of poetry. The guy who discovered Bukowski said that he was impressed with Bukowski's "man of the street" style. Here was a man of the street writing as a man of the street. He was a common man expressing himself in an uncommon way about the reality he was experiencing. Maybe he was one of the first people to speak so frankly.

Yeah, I can sound just like Bukowski. He's not hard to imitate. I can also play Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" and "Iron Man" on guitar, but it doesn't make me a rock-n-roll god.

What do you think?

[Orrex]

1. I absolutely love Bukowski's fiction

I'm not as good at reading his poetry, but his fiction frequently shows moments of true brilliance.

Part of what makes him so good is that he presented a really filthy side of life without apology and without judgment. Nowhere in his writing is there any sense that he thinks himself better than the other characters, and more often than not he thinks himself (Chinaski) much worse! I don't know of many modern authors who've done the same, totally immersing themselves in that world without blinking and without candy-coating or romanticizing it. At least, not before Bukowski.

The best fiction collection I've read by him is South of No North, which has some absolute gems. Some of the writing is flawed, but not often and not badly. Yes, there's a sexism, but as you rightly say he's an equal opportunity hater. But he doesn't judge; he just tells it like he sees it, even if that's not the same as "telling it like it is."

For my money, All the Assholes in the World and Mine is as fine a piece of fiction as anything else in the American canon.

I could go on and on, but I'll leave it at that. Except for two things:

1. I thank my wife (My Good Babushka) for introducing me to Bukowski, after I'd resisted reading him for years.
2. When we brought our first son home from the hospital, we were changing his diaper for the first time, and he wound up peeing all over the place. In the process he soaked the cover of South of No North, and I can't help thinking that Bukowski would have approved!

[Droopy]

2. I will have to check out his prose

For some reason his poetry always appealed to me more when I was at the book store picking out something to read by him. I'm not sure why, because I'm a lousy poet and very rarely even attempt to write any. I'll pick up some fiction by him the next time I'm at the book store.

It looks like you and I are in agreement about why people consider Bukowski to be one of the greats.

[Orrex]

3. Here's one of his poems that really floored me

Fittingly, I heard it on The Writer's Almanac while on the way to work one morning in 2003:
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2003/07/15

[Droopy]

4. That's great!

:D

Yeah, that's a classic. I think he is at his best when he is using humor, as far as his poetry goes.

[NashVegas]

5. Same Thing That Makes Anyone a Great Writer

Have an original thought (or at least be sure to get credit for it) and present it in a way that holds peoples' attention, that no one else is doing better.