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Finished Bukowski's Sunlight Here I Am: Interviews & Encounters 1963-1993
| cock of michael obama | 06/24/25 |
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Date: June 24th, 2025 2:10 AM Author: cock of michael obama I finished Bukowski’s Sunlight Here I Am: Interviews & Encounters 1963-1993 edited by David Stephen Calonne. It’s an easy read and I recommend it, which feature interviews with Bukowski across three decades.
I’ve been on a bit of a Bukowski kick, reading Post Office, Ham on Rye, Love is a Dog From Hell (poetry collection) back to back, and now this. His oeuvre is much larger than this sample, but I’ve had my fill of him for now; in the future I’ll revisit by reading Hollywood, Women, Factotum, Pulp, and more of his poetry (which is poetry for those who dislike traditional poetry, including myself) — but not now.
His themes are pretty similar throughout his work - excess drinking, crazy women, bars, fights, poverty, Los Angeles, horse betting, cycling through jobs, his difficult upbringing between parental abuse and cystic acne, finding success later in life - and after awhile it does get repetitive, even though Bukowski’s voice - direct, simple, clear, funny, pained - shines through clearly throughout.
Some random facts that stood out to me: Bukowski would take multiple baths each day (I also love taking baths). He found writing easier after losing money at the racetracks. He preferred being alone much of the time, and he thought a 8-5 job was soul death. Sean Penn was a big admirer of his and pushed to get the movie Barfly made. Sarte was a huge Bukowski fan and wanted to meet him, but Bukowski turned him down, which he later kind of regretted. Although associated with the Beat movement, this was wrong and Bukowski thought the Beat authors cared more about socializing and being famous than creating work. As he aged he stopped being able to read the works of others or watch mainstream film or television. He loved cats and had a bunch of them when he became richer in his older age (he died at 73 from leukemia).
In terms of influences, he was influenced by Dostoevsky, Gorky, Turgenev, the very early Saroyan, Hemingway, Sherwood Anderson, John Fante, Knut Hamsun, Celine and Carson McCullers, and James Thurber. In poetry, Robinson Jeffers, e.e. cummings, and some of Ezra Pound.
https://www.amazon.com/Charles-Bukowski-Interviews-Encounters-1963-1993/dp/0941543374 |