Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski (August 16, 1920 ? March 9, 1994), was a Los Angeles poet and novelist. Bukowski is sometimes associated with the Beat Generation writers because of his informal style and non-conformist literary attitude, though he did not identify himself as a Beat. Bukowski closely associated his works with his home city of Los Angeles and wrote over fifty books before his death on March 9, 1994.

Bukowski's adulthood

At the age of 24, Bukowski's short story "Aftermath of a Lengthy Rejection Slip" was published in Story Magazine. Two years later, another short story, "20 Tanks From Kasseldown," was published in the prestigious Portfolio III broadside collection. After these early publications Bukowski grew disillusioned with the publication process and quit writing for almost a decade. He spent this period both in Los Angeles, and roaming across the United States working odd jobs and staying in inexpensive rooming houses.

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In the early 1950's Bukowski took a temporary job as a letter carrier with the United States Postal Service in Los Angeles, but quit after less than two years. In 1955 he was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer that was nearly fatal. When he left the hospital, he began to write poetry. He also, against the advice of the physicians who had treated him, resumed drinking.

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He then began what would be a lifelong process of submitting his poetry to literary magazines for publication. During this time he returned to the post office in Los Angeles, where he worked as a clerk for over a decade. In 1965 a daughter, Marina Louise Bukowski, was born to Bukowski and Frances Smith. Smith and Bukowski lived together on and off for a few years, but were never married.

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In 1969 Bukowski quit his job at the post office to make writing his full time career, after being promised a monthly stipend of $100 "for life" from Black Sparrow Press publisher John Martin. He was then 49 years old. As he explained in a letter at the time, "I have one of two choices--stay in the post office and go crazy...or stay out here and play at writer and starve. I have decided to starve." http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jayd/buktro.htm Less than one month after leaving the postal service he finished his first novel, appropriately titled Post Office.

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In 1976 Bukowski met Linda Lee Beighle, a health food store owner. Two years later the couple would move from the East Los Angeles area, where Bukowski lived for most of his life, to the port town of San Pedro, at the Southern tip of Los Angeles. Bukowski and Beighle were married in 1985.

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