I have closely read this collection of 36 short stories
twice over the last year and consider it an excellent and under-rated book in
the Bukowski canon. It was first published in 1983 and is sandwiched between
his novel Ham on Rye (1982) and his
poetry collection War All the Time: Poems
1981-1984 (1984).
You can learn a lot about writing by studying this book. How
to pare it down. How to create a credible working class or down & out
classic. How to spice it up through a romp or fisticuff. How to make your story unpredictable and to engage the reader's imagination. No doubt you need to have the creative juices of stories coursing thru your veins of experience to begin with.
Here is a brief synopsis of some of the better stories:
YOU KISSED LILLY.
While watching television, Margaret, a 50 year old is reminded of Lilly who
kissed her husband Theodore five years ago. She pulls out a gun and shoots him
in the chest. They have a domestic argument as the blood drains out of him.
DECLINE AND FALL.
At the Hungry Diamond Mel relates to the bartender Carl a bizarre story told to
her by Al which involves a couple who likes strangers to watch them have sex
and which also later involves the cannibalism of a hitch-hiker.
HAVE YOU READ PIRANDELLO?
The narrator Henry Chinaski is forced to move out of his girlfriend’s large
comfortable house and he hilariously responds to a variety of share accommodation
ads.
STROKES TO NOWHERE.
Tony drops off his wife Dolly at the airport. As Tony and his friend Meg finally
are doing it “slowly and steadily like the arm of an oil pump. Flub, flub,
flub, flub,” Meg’s brother Damion materializes on the top of the bed and
chastises his sister.
SCUM GRIEF. Chinaski
attends a poetry reading of the poet Victor Valoff with his girlfriend Vicki.
As Valoff reads his obscure stuff Chinaski translates what he means in a
hilarious, punishingly satirical way.
A MAN WHO LOVED
ELEVATORS. This is a sexually explicit story about Harry who likes banging anonymous
women in lifts.
TURKEYNECK MORNING.
This is a third person story which poignantly examines the falling out of love
between the horny Barney and the recalcitrant Shirley.
HOW TO GET PUBLISHED.
This is a loosely veiled attempt to fictionalize his visit to the Owens in New
Orleans who were the publishers of Bukowski's first major book.
THE DEATH OF THE
FATHER I. Great opening line, “My father’s funeral was a cold hamburger.”
This is Bukowski’s story of hate for his old man. He fucks his old man’s
girlfriend Maria after the funeral.
BROKEN MERCHANDISE.
Frank, a shipping clerk, has an unsatisfactory relationship with his
girlfriend Fran. A moment of road rage provides him with “a small victory after
a horrible day”.
HOME RUN. Benny
beats a barkeep with a baseball bat who short-changes him forty bucks.
FOOLING MARIE.
Ted picks up a slender, big breasted woman at the race track. She has some surprises
for him.
As you can see from some of these crazy storylines, Bukowski is a highly imaginative short story writer. Although he often writes about his personal experiences, his best stuff begins realistically but then morphs off to other realms which are more difficult to peg down in a rational way.
As you can see from some of these crazy storylines, Bukowski is a highly imaginative short story writer. Although he often writes about his personal experiences, his best stuff begins realistically but then morphs off to other realms which are more difficult to peg down in a rational way.
It is interesting to note that in his recent book Charles Bukowski (2012), David Stephen
Calonne does not mention the collection, nor does Barry Miles in his Charles Bukowski (2005).Howard Sounes in
his excellent Charles Bukowski: Locked in
the Arms of a Crazy Life only makes a passing reference to the book in one
sentence.
