On Writing
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4.3 • 12 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Sharp and moving reflections and ruminations on the artistry and craft of writing from one of our most iconoclastic, riveting, and celebrated masters.
Charles Bukowski’s stories, poems, and novels have left an enduring mark on our culture. In this collection of correspondence—letters to publishers, editors, friends, and fellow writers—the writer shares his insights on the art of creation.
On Writing reveals an artist brutally frank about the drudgery of work and canny and uncompromising about the absurdities of life—and of art. It illuminates the hard-edged, complex humanity of a true American legend and counterculture icon—the “laureate of American lowlife” (Time)—who stoically recorded society’s downtrodden and depraved. It exposes an artist grounded in the visceral, whose work reverberates with his central ideal: “Don't try.”
Piercing, poignant, and often hilarious, On Writing is filled not only with memorable lines but also with Bukowski’s trademark toughness, leavened with moments of grace, pathos, and intimacy.
Customer Reviews
The Real Bukowski in every line.
There is something so unique about this man’s words. It’s like you’ve felt and heard his words a thousand times because they’re so real, so human.
I can never be sure whether the persona his writing has created over the years: the shacked-up starving drunk listening to Classical Music as he bangs on the often broken typer, is Real or fake, but he sure sells it in his letters to his beloved Editor/Publisher, John Martin. It doesn’t really matter, though, because his words ring true.
I’m going to read Fante’s Ask the Dust now on his recommendation. Four Stars. A great read.