Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Pinterest (e.g. “love her but leave her wild”) but, even in his
Seminar Paper fame, still refuses to reveal who he really is, adding fuel to fire
of his adoring fans.
Web Exclusives
HE NEW WAVE OF
the Web, we would never write the same way again”
(Goldsmith, 2015).
CONFESSIONAL PO- This implies that, perhaps, the time needed to write quality
poetry has shortened by a wide margin, which does not
ETRY: The Mod- necessarily mean that it is not quality work – our perceptions
of what “quality” in literature constitutes as are constantly
changing based on our socio-economic environment. The
ern-Age Internet question then remains how to spot real poetic talent and how
to decide what constitutes as quality poetry since poetry
Poets and their production has been changing so much as a consequence of
the internet.
Forms of Self- Today, the true critic of poetry is still the public, but online
magazines have stepped up to fill the role of the middle-link
Expression between amateur poets and the ones who are well on their
way to becoming published. The number of such magazines
Ariela Herč ek has increased drastically in the past 10 years. They are a good
source of quality poetry and a great reference for later
This article serves as a thematic overview of internet poetry submissions to publishing houses. One of the most
between 2010 and 2017, paying closer attention to the newly- important reasons why there are so many online magazines
popularized poets and themes. With regard to this, is that each one has their own concept of what quality is.
intermediality in terms of slam poetry and spoken word Each has a smorgasbord of poetic themes they accept, and
albums as well as intertextuality will also be discussed. this allows almost every emerging or established poet to find
a magazine that best fits their personal preferences.
To understand the phenomenon of the internet poetry and
even more so the mass production of it, we have to first Poetry that has surfaced on the worldwide web in the past 7
establish a rough timeline. Starting broadly with 2010, years has been as diverse as one would expect when the
internet poetry gained new grounds to dwell on, with an opportunity to publish publicly without any fees comes in
emphasis on the role of social media platforms which became the form of uncensored and unlimited medium such as the
widely popularized around this time. At first, these were internet. This has in turn produced thousands of first-time
mostly Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter, but new ones kept published poets, by way of publications in online poetry
appearing. Among these, Tumblr can be perceived as the magazines.
most important, since many of the poets I will later on
However, this article focuses mostly on what I call the “New
discuss in greater detail started out as teenage bloggers.
Wave of Confessional Poetry”, made popular by the use of
Gaining readership thus became easier through these
internet. Poets who create in this way seek inspiration from
eponymous blogs. If we move on to connect these social
the original Confessional Poets like Sylvia Plath, Anne
media platforms with the direct impact they have had on
Sexton, Adrienne Rich etc. The themes which both
poetry production, we see that, mostly, the internet
generations of confessional poets use are closely intertwined,
successfully amassed new readers who before this time did
but the early confessional poets were much subtler in telling
not know anything about poetry. And going even further:
their stories. This may be the consequence of the
seeing that they could find financial and social gain in writing
simplification of language used online, a direct effect of
poetry, more and more people started writing poetry and
technology and the wish to save more time. It is also possible
then sharing it. For the ones who had been writing before
to connect this to the shortness of most new confessional
this new trend emerged, this presented to them an
poems, however there are some disparities here. The change
opportunity to share their work with complete strangers,
in the poetic language will be discussed later in the article. It
and, consequently, to feel less pressure and fear of being
is best to start with a short overview of the online poetry
recognized and criticized. Anonymity therefore represents a
community’s activity in the past 8 years.
major positive side to internet poetry, with, for example,
poets only signing the bottom of their poems with their The years from 2011 to 2013, saw the first-time published
initials. One such famous case of an anonymous poet is chapbooks and poetry collections of the poets that are now
Atticus, who became very popular on Instagram and well-recognized in the online poetry community. Some of
the more recognized poets published in these years are An advice to authors considering to publish in Words Dance
Meggie Royer (Unrequited, Survival Songs) and Clementine doubles as a poem – in all its juxtapositions, hungry rhythms
von Radics (As Often as Miracles), as well as Nayyirah of everyday life, and metaphors of nature as human body or
Waheed (salt.), who is sometimes said to be the most popular human body as nature, this submit page specifies what kind
and quoted poet on social media (Henderson, 2017). These of poems they search for by writing a poem about it. This
poets were followed in 2014 by Caitlyn Siehl (What We serves as a new way of appealing to publishing authors to
Buried), Ashe Vernon (Belly of the Beast), Trista Mateer send their work that reminisces of the submit page entry – a
(Honeybee), Azra Tabassum (Shaking the Trees), and many very clever way of doing business when time is considered
others. The years 2014 and 2015 bore the most fruit, with the sacrosanct and so few of the poets actually read through past
poetic activity spiking, as well as the ascent to internet fame issues of magazines in order to find out what the magazine
of newly-emerging poets by means of social media platforms. expects of their submissions.
However, these poets did not just write their poetry for the However, the importance of these newly constructed online
world to read – they made sure other poets, newly-emerging poetry magazines and publishing houses is not only in the
as well as already established ones would have a safe space to way they present themselves, but also in what kind of poems
publish their work. As mentioned earlier, online poetry they publish and what kind of authors they most want to
magazines have played an important part in spreading represent. Take for example this part of Where Are You Press
quality poetry. Some of these poetry magazines double as submit page entry:
online and printed, whereas others are available strictly
As is often pointed out, when a white man writes of
online. I would like to emphasize two online poetry
his own life, he is describing the human condition,
magazines that were the direct result of these new, young
when anyone else does it, it is “genre-work” or seen
poets from the start of the decade. Some of these magazines
as indulgent. We are seeking to change that.
also double as independent publishing companies, like
(Where Are You Press, n.d.)
Words Dance, founded in 2013 by Amanda Oaks. The poetry
they publish is mostly by marginalized voices. The other These words are a telling representation of how feminism has
publishing company is Where Are You Press, also founded in been central in the poetic community in the last decade,
2013 by Clementine von Radics. Where Are You Press focuses striving to give voice to the previously voiceless, to bring
on the voices of young women, people of color, and other ostracized communities to the forefront – to, in a way, utter
marginalized voices. Many of their authors have found their what has been unutterable for centuries under societal
own audiences through blogs or spoken word. Another oppression and injustices. From this perspective, online
interesting poetry magazine was founded in 2015 by Meggie poetry magazines that work under a rule of publishing
Royer: Persephone’s Daughters. It is dedicated to anyone who needs to tell a story are a stark contrast to older
empowering women who have experienced various forms of poetry magazines which publish mostly already-published
abuse and degradation. These are some of the most authors and require a submission fee, as well as rarely publish
important online magazines, not only because the editors are new or emerging authors.
young poets (mostly aged between 20 and 30), but also
because they give marginalized voices opportunity to express To link this to some of the themes I mentioned earlier, there
themselves in a safe space. In order to offer a clear is a definite pattern among these new confessional poets.
presentation of why these poetry magazines are important, They write uncensored about their personal human
not just for the poetry community but for women as well, the experience, leaving no place for beautifying their stories with
submit-page entry for Words Dance Publishing is attached unneeded metaphors. This is a change from the confessional
below. poets of the 20th Century. It is quite clear that the society
now allows, cherishes and encourages such writing, whereas
“At Words Dance, we want visceral & trenchant it was quite promiscuous of a woman in the 20th Century to
writing. We like Poems that sneak up on you. Poems write about sexuality, abuse, and mental illness. For the poets
that make out with you. Poems that bloody your of the 21st Century, however, these themes are at the center
mouth just to kiss it clean. Poems that bite the of human existence and should be present in everyday
inside of your cheek so you spend all day tonguing literary and non-literary discourse. Most prominently the
the wound. Poems that vandalize your heart. Poems themes in the New Wave of Confessional Poetry copy those
that act like a tin can phone connecting you to your that were brought into focus by the Confessional poets:
childhood. Fire Alarm Poems. Glitterbomb Poems. depression/mental illness, love, death, self-harm, abuse,
Jailbreak Poems. Poems that could marry the land feminism, and sexuality and gender identity, the last being a
or the sea; that are both the hero & the villain. new theme brought into focus by recent social changes that
Poems that are the matches when there is a city- allow more freedom of self-identification. The retelling of
wide power outage. Poems that throw you these old themes however, is much more “brutal” in this new
overboard just to dive in & save your ass. Poems wave. To illustrate this in context of sexuality and sexual
that push you down on the stoop in front of history’s liberation, these examples of Trista Mateer’s verses provides
door screaming at you to knock. Poems that are soft a good example:
enough to fall asleep on. Poems that will still be
clinging to the walls inside of your bones on your
90th birthday. We like poems. Submit yours.”
(Words Dance Publishing, n.d.)
“I stop masturbating because it that “It is often romanticized that one must be mad in order
makes me cry. to be a creative prodigy.” When we look at Vernon’s poem
I make bad art and keep it to Vincent, we see that her verses run in parallel with this
myself. I make bad art and societal perception of a “tortured genius”, to borrow Vernon’s
share it with the internet.” (Quote Catalog, n.d.) words. We also see that Vernon’s Vincent works fluently to
oppose the perception of not only contemporary poetry of
“And this wasn’t supposed to be the 21st century, but also the works of the original
a fucked up poem but it’s turning into a fucked up confessional poets like Sylvia Plath, who has often been
poem romanticized for being mentally ill and committing suicide.
because I haven’t been able to However, Plath also idealized mental illness to the point
cum in three years where it allowed further romanticization. “Plath articulated
without thinking of his hips multiple accounts of suicide ideation in her fiction and her
sliding into mine: like first journals, as well as suicide attempts. Plath perceived death as
base, an act of courage and an escape from her depression.” (King,
like second base, like third 2018) Consequently, some of these dark thoughts translated
base, into her poetry, whereas modern-age internet poets try to
like home.” (Quote Catalog, n.d.) starkly protest this kind of writing in order to create a safe
poetry community.
30 years ago, such verses would be deemed inappropriate. It
is therefore clearly visible that some of the social changes Furthermore, another change that has surfaced with the new
that have taken place throughout the 20th Century and until wave of confessional poets is the difference in how they use
now have changed how people perceive self-expression; not language – it has become condensed, simplified, a sort of
just in literature but also in everyday language and situations. telling-it-like-it-is method behind it. What stayed even from
The society’s attitude towards mental illness is changing too, the poets of the second half of the 20th century is the
and new confessional poets have been very expressive about sometimes unusual metaphors. They remind us of the style
the deromanticizing of mental illness and addictions. Ashe of Allen Ginsberg – the clashing juxtapositions and the
Vernon’s poem Vincent is a befitting example of the poetry seemingly disconnected concepts gaining exquisite meaning,
community's opposition to romanticizing mental illness and especially because the style with the new wave of
self-harm. Attached below are a few examples from this confessional poets is so personal that anybody can find a
poem that highlight this issue. little bit of their own story in it, as Salma Deera eloquently
described,
"when they talk about the tortured genius,
somebody always brings up van gogh— “the centre of every poem is this:
how he swallowed yellow paint because i have loved you. i have had to deal with that.”
he wanted to put the sunshine inside himself. (Deera, 2015)
/…/
Another prominent feature of this poetic style is the length.
look at all the poets who killed themselves
Poems of the 20th Century were usually longer, as opposed
what would their work have been without their depression?
to the shortening of the modern poems into a length
it’s it beautiful, isn’t it sad?
befitting a text message or a Twitter post. This is a fascinating
as if depression is a parlor trick—
cause-and-effect sample: because we are the generation that
pull it out at parties, impress all your friends.
grew up with technology, we learned to shorten and simplify
/…/
our messages. And because of this, we have transferred this
it is the least beautiful thing i’ve ever seen
mode of writing onto our poetry. We only need to say exactly
and we call it the mark of an artist
what we mean. No embellishments, because there is simply
to stand in the center of an ocean
no time for them. Perhaps the best example of this mode of
and see nothing but desert.
writing is Rupi Kaur’s poetry. Her two poetry collections milk
to be seated at a feast, but still
& honey and the sun and her flowers are a wonderful
swallowing sand.
representation of how powerful poetry can be even if there
are only short sentences and even if the poem is simple. An
depression is the yellow paint, the yellow paint,
interesting idea to mull over is that maybe the shortness of
the yellow paint, the yellow paint, the
her poems allows for wider audiences, in which case we could
yellow paint, the yellow paint, the yellow
say that poetic taste of the younger generations has adapted
paint, the yellow paint, the yellow paint—
with regard to how they interact with the internet – it has
/…/
often been said that internet and social media in general have
and they say, “without his illness, we
shortened the attention span and cognitive functions in
never would have gotten all—this.”
teens, which makes it possible for us to attribute the
because they value his art more than his sanity
popularity of short poems to this psychological
because god forbid you lead a happy life
phenomenon. Alas, shorter attention span might not be the
and leave nothing to remember you by." (Vernon, 2018)
only reason for the shortening of poetic texts. Most of
contemporary internet poets use platforms like Instagram to
From Molly King’s honors thesis Diagnosis and Treatment of
share their poetry with the world. Instagram only allows for
Sylvia Plath and Virginia Wolf, the author states on page 13
small square photos, and if a poet wishes to publish their
verses, they have to make them shorter in order for them to contemporary discussion on gender identity and gender
be visible. pronouns. In the age of political correctness at its highest
until now, people have started to preemptively take care that
Although using Instagram to publish poetry is one of the others know which pronouns to refer to them by – Keaton St
most logical explanations, there are other forms of poetry James therefore wants others to use ‘he/him’, but there are
that have surfaced because of the internet, and they allow us many cases in which the preferred pronoun is ‘they’. Gender
to overview new forms that have emerged based on identity has become a prevalent theme in this new-age
intermediality. In 2014 there was a collection of short love poetry and, together with sexual orientation and liberation,
poems called Literary Sexts by Amanda Oaks and Caitlyn takes a stand against the societal values of patriarchy – a
Siehl. The poems are in the form of short text messages using topic which is intrinsically present in modern feminist
poetic language and metaphors in order to express sexuality ideologies.
and romance. To continue, intermediality is also present in
the form of slam poetry videos, shared widely over the web Feminism works as a dominant theme in today’s poetry,
by the use of YouTube, with poets such as Andrea Gibson and especially by women authors. It is the undercurrent to poetic
Neil Hilborn reaching worldwide fame. There are also discussion of sex, gender, race, and expression of love. Most
younger poets who are frequent participants in slam poetry notable examples of this can be found in Rupi Kaur’s poetry,
events, for example Alex Dang and Blythe Baird. Some of the which deals with the topics of rape, negative body image,
most recognized slam poetry videos on the internet societal expectations for women, and other prominent issues
nowadays are Neil Hilborn’s OCD, and Andrea Gibson’s of feminism.
Honey, which is also a curious mix of not only poetry and
video platform, but the additional inclusion of live “the rape will
background music, which further illustrates the importance tear you
of intermediality in contemporary poetry. in half
discourse that sheds light on the inner workings of families, Kaur, Rupi. 2015. milk and honey. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel
relationships, and how it is to be a woman in today’s society Publishing.
in general.
King, Molly, "Diagnosis and Treatment of Sylvia Plath and Virginia
Woolf " (2018). Honors Theses. 539.
Feminist rhetoric is also present in poems that have strong
https://encompass.eku.edu/honors_theses/539/
intertextual ties to Greek mythology, particularly visible in
poems that deal with the myths of Persephone, Medusa and Michalleni, Daniella. n.d. “Persephone Speaks.” Tumblr. Accessed
other women of Greek mythology that have suffered from March 9, 2019.
https://66.media.tumblr.com/ec9973cd44bb117252a7d1c45cbc23d5/t
patriarchal society and sexual abuse. In the poem Persephone
umblr_p5psfjBnFI1x5ps99o1_500.png
Speaks by Daniella Michalleni, the character of Persephone
fights against false whispers “that [she]’d been dragged” Quote Catalog. n. d. “Trista Mateer: I stop…” Accessed March 9, 2019.
(Michalleni, 2013) to oppose the thinking that women do not https://quotecatalog.com/quote/trista-mateer-i-stop-masturba-
baVzPNa/
act of their own free will, that they are soft and susceptible to
a man. Persephone in Michalleni’s poem makes clear that she Quote Catalog. n.d. “Trista Mateer: And this wasn’t…” Accessed
“asked [Hades] for it” (Michalleni, 2013), assigning great March 9, 2019. https://quotecatalog.com/quote/trista-mateer-and-
weight to her ability to decide for herself, an argument this-wasn-G7P6Eoa/
strongly present in feminism, especially regarding bodily Royer, Meggie. 2013. “language is the antithesis of feeling.” Tumblr.
autonomy (e. g. abortions and body image). Accessed March 9, 2019.
http://writingsforwinter.tumblr.com/post/44192144416/language-is-
Feminism therefore plays an important part in the modern- the-antithesis-of-feeling
age internet poetry, as it has throughout the last 100 years.
St. James, Keaton. 2016. “Growing (Dictionary Poems, Vol. 1).” Issuu.
The major distinction between older and contemporary
pp. 4. Accessed March 9, 2019.
feminist poetry is a more direct approach to writing – the https://issuu.com/keatonstjames/docs/zine1
resurfacing and re-establishment of taboo themes as
something logically present in confessional-style poetic texts Vernon, Ashe. 2018. “Vincent.” Tumblr. Accessed March 9,
2019.http://latenightcornerstore.com/post/159217548597/when-they-
have allowed for a raw and open discourse on womanhood,
talk-about-the-tortured-genius
mental illness, gender identity, sexuality, immigration and
other significant topics. Using social media to spread poetry Where Are You Press. n.d. “About Us.” Accessed March 8, 2019.
has become an irreplaceable way of amassing readership and, http://whereareyoupress.tumblr.com/aboutus
in turn, encourage further discussion about the above- Words Dance Publishing. n.d. “Submit.” Accessed March 8, 2019.
mentioned paramount themes. Internet platforms have also http://wordsdance.com/submit/
contributed to a change in language, which has become
condensed and simplified, leading to shorter texts and
intermediality of styles and publishing options, considerably
visible in slam poetry videos and spoken word, as well as text
message poetry. Intertextuality is still present in a number of
internet-age poetry, ranging from tortured artists such as
Van Gogh and Plath to Greek mythology in order to dispute
the romanticization of mental illness and suicide. All in all,
the modern-age internet poetry is widely popular, urging
readers to express themselves through poetic language, to
read and learn. It is a way to resist the patriarchal society and
a force to be reckoned with.
C
purpose of meeting his father's expectations and demands.
Seminar Paper In 1939 he enrolled in Los Angeles City College with the
intention of becoming a journalist. As a scholarship student
Web Exclusives
After the incident with his father, Bukowski left home. It was
about his father having discovered that Charles was using the
harles Bukowski: typewriter not only for his studies but also to write. His father
threw the machine out through the window together with
everything the young man had written so far. After the
Notes of a Dirty argument Charles moved to the centre and worked at the
railway for 6 months. Afterwards he decided to travel in
Old Man
order “to be able to write about the real world of boarding
houses, factory jobs and pubs” (Žabkar 10).
All the while he kept writing and sending his articles, short
Karin Petko
stories and other works to various newspapers, but was
This paper deals with the collected columns that were rejected time and time again. When one of his articles was
written by Charles Bukowski and published weekly in the finally published, he travelled to New York to look at it in the
underground newspaper Open City. A few of the columns printed version, but was severely disappointed to see his
were later chosen and published in a book entitled Notes of story on one of the last pages, among the (unimportant)
a dirty old man . Since the work consists of columns, it is novelties.
impossible to summarise it properly. This paper therefore
New York was followed by Charles’ stay in the peaceful
rather discusses the relationship between the Notes and
Philadelphia and this by his return to Los Angeles in 1947.
reality. To see how Bukowski's life influenced his writing, it
There he went to work and tried living up to his parents’
is first imperative to be familiar with his biography. Knowing
expectations. He stayed in Los Angeles for the rest of his life
his complete work is then of lesser importance.
and kept it vividly alive in most of his work (Žabkar 9–11).
NOTE: It is Bukowski's novels that are the most well-known
ALCOHOL, WOMEN, DEATH
and explored, while the columns are not. Therefore, the
created scheme of autobiographical elements in his columns In addition to his relationship with his father, his many jobs
is strictly based on other sources about the author and on and writing, there were two other very important things in
reading the collection of columns. the life of Bukowski: women and alcohol.
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH He first encountered alcohol when he was thirteen. One of
his (very few) friends offered him wine in his father's
Henry Charles Bukowski was born as Heinrich Karl Bukowski
basement – Bukowski later spoke of the event as 'magic'
on 16 August 1920 in Germany. His mother Katharina Fett
(Poetry). Bukowski wrote this about drinking alcohol: “This
was German and his father was an American soldier. Still,
is going to help me for a very long time” (Wikipedia).
even his father's side of the family had German roots. When
Charles was two years and eight months old, he and his Alcohol helped him to deal with his life, just as his father's
parents moved to America, to Los Angeles – the city that he uncalled-for beating taught him to accept and understand
not only mentions in his work but it’s also where most of his the undeserved pain. Both themes found their way into his
stories take place. His father believed in a strict upbringing work.
and often beat his son for the slightest offences. His father’s
cruelty and violence had a strong impact on Charles’ Henry Bukowski is at least partly the person to thank for
character, his writing and the content of his work. On top of another topic that seems to pop up on almost every page of
that Charles was hugely affected by pimples that appeared Bukowski's work: women. Not only did the father beat his
when he was thirteen. He had to undergo an intensive wife, he also cheated on her and partied with his lovers on
treatment which prevented him from going to school for an the other side of the city. Like father like son. Bukowski too
entire semester. Because of that, his pale complexion, had many affairs – together with alcohol they seemed to
snobbish parents and German accent, his peers made fun of present the meaning of life to him, and were also his
him and he never had (m)any friends. Thus he spent a lot of inspiration. Given his dissolute lifestyle it might come as a
time in the library reading – he loved Chekhov, Dostoevsky, surprise that there was actually one special woman who had
Turgenjev, Hemingway … a strong influence on him. Jane Cooney Baker and Bukowski,
who was twenty-seven at the time, met in one of the pubs
It is rather obvious that Charles could never really grow to where Bukowski tried to “drown his sadness one night”
like school. He enrolled in Los Angeles High solely for the (Žabkar 11). Jane was ten years older than him and had two
children. Like himself, she liked to drink, and she was his first the column brought the author quite a lot of pleasure –
serious girlfriend. It is certain that Jane affected Bukowski’s however, if we are being honest, it is hard to imagine him
writing, because she appears in some of his best work. Her doing anything that would require more that casualness and
death in 1962 devastated the author (Žabkar 55–57). idleness. The columns did not bring him only joy, but also
recognisability and fans.
Another woman that was important to Bukowski was
Barbara Frye, the editor of a magazine which was very fond The preface ends with the year and author’s name and
of publishing new authors. What started out as an innocent surname. The entire thing is followed by the Notes. One of
correspondence in letters in the 1950s, soon turned into their notable characteristics is that there are no capitals at
something more and their platonic relationship ended in the beginnings of sentences. The capital letters are used only
bed. In 1955 they even got married, but divorced two years for names. Different columns are separated by short lines.
later, because Barbara couldn’t understand and accept There are no titles nor are there any dates or anything which
Bukowski’s drinking and instability. Later she married once would help the reader place the columns. Theme-wise the
again and even travelled to India, where she died. Bukowski, columns are very diverse, but at the same time connected by
however, carried on with his relationships. the fact that the basis for each one are (auto)biographical
facts. Another thing that columns have in common are the
He had numerous relationships with women he met at bars motives of sex, women, alcohol and work or rather laziness.
or in similarly bad circumstances. After 1955, when his Bukowski stresses some words by capitalising all the letters
writing career started to bloom, he also met women at in them. Typical of his writing are also vulgar expressions and
literary evenings and public readings. One of those gave birth swear words.
to Bukowski’s only child, daughter Marina, who Bukowski
loved very deeply (Žabkar, 57). Bukowski never married the As in other Bukowski’s works the Notes are narrated by the
girl’s mother, Frances Elizabeth Dean, because she declined first-person narrator, who is substituted by the all-knowing
his proposal. However, the two soon split up anyway, narrator on a couple of occasions. The first-person narrative
because of Charles’ inability to combine writing and work is mostly given by Henry Chinaski, whom Bukowski uses as
with family life. Regardless of the break-up, Charles his alter-ego in most of his works. Occasionally the Notes
remained a good father to Marina till the end (Maršič 10). also provide the name Hank or Hank Radowski.
Following in the footsteps of Frances Elizabeth there were FICTION AND REALITY OR AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL
many other young ladies. Despite the fact that Bukowski ELEMENTS IN THE NOTES
disliked meeting women this way, it was precisely such a
circumstance that brought him his second wife Linda Lee Bukowski's life had an immense impact on his work. Charles
Beighle. She was very different from the rest of his lovers, himself once said that “the great majority of what he wrote
because she practised sexual abstinence. Furthermore, she about actually did happen in his life. […] 93 % of his work is
wasn't just a sexual object to Bukowski, but was also his autobiographical, while the other 7 % Bukowski once
friend (Žabkar 57–58). labelled as a corrected version of biography” (Žabkar 8). The
author included current events from around the world,
The couple got married in 1958. Three years later Bukowski happenings from the lives of his friends and acquaintances
fell ill with tuberculosis, which resulted in a year-long and of course stories from his own life. Bukowski uses four
abstinence from alcohol. Regardless of this, Bukowski's life different techniques for conveying reality to literature:
soon reverted to drinking. In 1993 he was diagnosed with mentions, mixing of the genres, descriptions and parallels.
leukaemia, which killed him a year later. He died in San There are a couple of examples provided for each group.
Pedro in California, aged 73 (Maršič 10).
MENTION OF CURRENT THEMES AND PEOPLE
NOTES OF A DIRTY OLD MAN – CONTENT AND FORM
Not only is Bukowski (or rather his alter egos Henry Chinaski
Notes of a Dirty Old Man was at first published as a weekly and Hank Radowski) his own protagonist in the columns, he
column in an underground newspaper called Open City. also introduces many of his contemporaries – they can either
Later, some columns from the first fourteen months of get an important role in a column or can only be mentioned
publishing were collected into a book that was published by briefly. Some of those who are often mentioned are Jack
the Essex House in 1969. Kerouac, John Bryan, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg…
while Neal Cassady gets an entire column.
The collection starts with the author's preface form 1969, in
which he explains how the book and the notes of the dirty Bukowski writes about typical everyday themes which add to
old man came to be. Notes used to be the weekly column in the feeling of reality in his fiction: drinking, dirty pubs, fights,
Open City. The father of this newspaper was John Bryan, cruel deaths, gambling, bets, horse races … It is all about the
whom Bukowski describes as the “crazy idealist and simple life, the lower strata of society and a simple, often
romantic” (Bukowski 5) and his newspaper as the “liveliest vulgar diction. All of that combined quickly transforms
rag in the U.S.” (Bukowski 5). It was Bryan who offered fiction into reality, what it actually is – if we are to believe
Charles the writing of a weekly column. At first Bukowski did Bukowski.
not relish the idea, but then, as he himself put it, he “sat
down and wrote the heading […] opened a beer, and the The following examples are given without wider context or
writing got done by itself. […] Just sit by the window, lift the explanation – their sole purpose is to show Bukowski's reality
beer and let it come” (Bukowski 6) It is obvious that writing
as mentioned in his fiction. They are given in the order as On the 3 February 1968 Cassady went to a wedding in Mexico.
they appear in the Notes. Afterwards he left to walk towards the nearby town on his
own. He was wearing only a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. He
“You liked him even though you didn’t want to made his way along the railway track and it was there that he
because Kerouac had set him up for the sucker fainted. It was a cold and rainy night. Neal was found in the
punch and Neal had bit, kept biting” (24). morning and immediately taken to the closest Post Office
and from there to the hospital, where he died a few days later,
“Jack knows Ginsberg, Creely, Lamantia, on and on,
just a couple of days before his 42nd birthday.
and now he knew Bukowski” (27).
It is this exact situation that Bukowski talks about in the
“Bird peels off a g.d. twenty. his movement is
column which opens with the author’s mentioning of how he
smooth, without worry” (30).
and Neal had met: “I met Kerouac’s boy Neal C. shortly before
“I read the next day, Saturday, there were around he went down to lay along those Mexican railroad tracks to
45,000 people at the track, which was about die” (23). He describes their talking, drinking and driving.
normal” (45). Different sources often claim that Neal was a fast and
dangerous driver. Bukowski confirms the fact:
REFERENCES
Bukowski, Charles. Notes of a dirty old man. San Francisco: City Lights
Books, 1969.