A short life of the author
Heinrich Karl Bukowski (1920–1994) was born on 16 August 1920 in Andernach, Germany, the son of an American serviceman of German descent and a German mother. The family emigrated to Los Angeles in 1923, settling in a succession of shabby addresses that Bukowski would chronicle in relentless, darkly comic detail. His father was violently abusive; Bukowski later wrote that his childhood taught him the two things that mattered most: endurance and rage.
Life and Career
Bukowski attended Los Angeles City College briefly, worked as a postal clerk, warehouse hand, dog biscuit factory worker, shipping clerk, and dozens of other manual jobs, and drank enormously. He began writing in his teens, published a story in Story magazine in 1944, then stopped writing almost entirely for a decade — a period he called “the ten-year drunk.” A near-fatal bleeding ulcer in 1955 brought him to a hospital ward where he began writing again, this time poetry, published in small literary magazines.
His breakthrough came through the underground press. Flower, Fist and Bestial Wail (1960), a chapbook of poems published by Hearse Press in an edition of 200 copies, was his first book. Over the next decade he published prolifically in small-press magazines and chapbooks. The decisive relationship was with John Martin of Black Sparrow Press, who in 1969 offered Bukowski $100 a month for life if he would quit the Post Office and write full-time. Bukowski quit the next day.
Post Office (1971), his first novel, was a picaresque account of his years as a postal worker. Factotum (1975), Women (1978), Ham on Rye (1982), Hollywood (1989), and Pulp (1994) followed. His poetry — collected in dozens of volumes including Love Is a Dog from Hell (1977), War All the Time (1984), and The Last Night of the Earth Poems (1992) — was published almost entirely by Black Sparrow, which also issued deluxe editions, broadsides, and limited signings that created the foundation of the Bukowski collecting market.
Bukowski wrote a column, “Notes of a Dirty Old Man,” for the Los Angeles Free Press and later Open City, which became a book in 1969. The screenplay Barfly (1987), starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway, brought him wider fame. He died of leukaemia on 9 March 1994 in San Pedro, California.
Major Works and Themes
Bukowski’s subject is survival at the bottom — the daily grind of poverty, dead-end jobs, cheap apartments, racetrack afternoons, and the consolation of alcohol and sex. His style is deliberately plain, conversational, and stripped of literary pretension. The best of his poetry has a hard clarity and black humour that distinguishes it from mere confession; the worst is repetitive and self-indulgent.
Ham on Rye (1982) is his finest novel: a closely autobiographical account of his brutal childhood in Depression-era Los Angeles, his severe adolescent acne (which left him scarred and isolated), and his discovery of alcohol and public libraries as twin refuges. It is the most emotionally honest of his books and the one most likely to survive as literature.
Post Office (1971) and Factotum (1975) are picaresque comedies of the American underclass, told with the deadpan timing of a seasoned barroom storyteller.
Critical Reception and Legacy
Bukowski has always been a polarising figure. The literary establishment largely ignored or dismissed him; his readership was — and remains — vast, particularly in Europe, where he is treated as a major American writer. His influence on subsequent “dirty realism” and confessional writing is considerable: Raymond Carver, Denis Johnson, and a generation of small-press poets owe something to his example. He remains one of the bestselling poets in the world.
Key Works
- Post Office (1971)
- Factotum (1975)
- Love Is a Dog from Hell (1977)
- Women (1978)
- Ham on Rye (1982)
- Hollywood (1989)
- The Last Night of the Earth Poems (1992)
- Pulp (1994)
Collecting Bukowski
Bukowski is one of the most actively collected American writers of the late twentieth century. The market is enormous, international (particularly strong in Germany, France, and Italy), and stratified between the rare early small-press items and the widely available Black Sparrow editions.
The early chapbooks are the trophies. Flower, Fist and Bestial Wail (1960, Hearse Press, 200 copies) is his first book and a genuine rarity; copies bring $5,000–$15,000. Longshot Pomes for Broke Players (1962, 7 Poets Press, 200 copies) and It Catches My Heart in Its Hands (1963, Loujon Press, 777 copies) are also highly sought.
The Loujon Press editions — It Catches My Heart in Its Hands and Crucifix in a Deathhand (1965) — are among the most beautiful small-press productions of the era and are collected as much for their craftsmanship as for their content. Fine copies bring $1,000–$5,000.
Black Sparrow Press editions dominate the market. Post Office (1971) first editions in cloth bring $500–$2,000. Black Sparrow typically issued each title in three states: trade paper, hardcover, and deluxe signed limited edition. The signed limited editions — often in runs of 250 or fewer, with original artwork or prints — are the primary collecting targets and range from $200 to $2,000 depending on the title.
Bukowski was an exceptionally prolific signer. He signed for Black Sparrow regularly and generously, often adding drawings, marginalia, or personalized inscriptions. Signed copies are widely available; the value depends on the edition, the quality of the inscription or drawing, and the title. His drawings — crude, energetic figures of drinkers, horses, and women — add significant value to any signed item.