Charles Bukowski (born in Andernach, Germany, in 1920, and died in the San Pedro Peninsula, California, in 1994) is an American narrator, poet and essayist, a relevant figure of dirty realism and considered a “cursed poet” due to his excessive alcoholism, his marginal condition and bohemian lifestyle.
With more than fifty books published throughout his life and numerous articles in magazines such as Underground, as well as a series of short stories and tales that still remain scattered or unpublished, Editorial Anagrama is now putting into circulation this compendium of unpublished stories and articles, written between 1946 and 1992, which appeared sporadically in numerous newspapers and publications and magazines such as Matrix, Literary Times, Candid Press or The Outsider, Wormwood Review, among many other sites.
Since Bill Buford, editor of the literary magazine Granta, decided to use the term “Dirty realism” for the first time as a publicity stunt, the label quickly became established and gave recognition and success to the main exponents of this narrative variant. And, although “dirty realism” is a literary phenomenon that originated in America and is characterized by a style of language reduced to the essential, sometimes mean-spirited.
It distances itself from poetic expression, from metaphors, double meanings and suspicious analogies, and it also moves away from irony and from creating an overly elaborate language. Dirty realism bases its attitude on direct expression, without any holds barred. It is not about being offensive by using ugly words. It places these words there to expose a certain reality with complete accuracy. That expression is in itself reality.
The point is that if an author has in mind a beggar, a blowjob, a whore or a fuck, that is what he should write. Do not cajole anyone with false ornaments and do not say in a paragraph something that could be expressed in three words. Dirty realism, also called transgressive fiction, seeks to capture the essence of the everyday, the trivial, that which even having disgusting edges is avoided to mention; and reduces the narrative to its fundamental elements both linguistic and aesthetic.
It is preferably used in short stories. Like alchemists, he seeks to transmute mud into gold. And in this sense, Bukowski is -without a doubt- the one who has gone the furthest. He is not only considered the father of dirty realism, but he has also cultivated a style to found his own myth. Bukowski embodies -in himself- a trend.
This way of facing reality has had an enormous impact – especially since the end of the Cold War and after one of its main actors collapsed spectacularly and this new neoliberal and cosmopolitan reality has taken over the world and subjected everything to the draconian laws of the market. We exist in the jungle and its laws prevail. These creators have dedicated themselves to portraying reality as a frame of this society where beauty is not synonymous with beauty, but with the authenticity that means existing.
As you can understand, in the epic of these pages there is no longer the classic hero; the Robin Hood, the Tiger of Malaysia or some kind of James Bond, no, not at all. The hero is an antihero, a beggar, a scoundrel, a drunk lying on some corner wondering what the hell importance Milton and his “Paradise Lost” have.
Bukowski’s writing thus gains its intensity and its tempestuous, energetic and autobiographical tone of voice from the fact that they are realistic chronicles of the counterculture of a time that is still current. Bukowski develops a dirty, lyrical and comic realism with all that crudeness beneath which lies an authentic sensitivity and a photographic fidelity to everyday horrors.
Those who know Bukowski’s work will recognize in this book all of his constants, that direct and stark look at everyday life, literature and sex. In these pages that collect his scattered work, these wonders can be found. Of course, a story like “Vern’s Wife” belongs to another breed of stories. Here we see Bukowski in full swing; he is very capable of discarding and leaving out splendid passages to make way for direct and brutally knockout prose. To meet Bukowski again, after the amount of rotten water that has passed under the bridges, is to fill oneself with energy.
But the story “Vern’s Wife” is something really different.
This is a beautiful and essential book to rediscover the old Bukowski.
Datasheet
“Absence of the hero”
Charles Bukowski
ANAGRAMA Publishing House
330 pages
ISBN: 9 788433 921987
-
The content expressed in this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of The counter.
#Absence #Hero #Fighting #Hero #Unpublished #Stories #Essays #Charles #Bukowski