Charles Bukowski is unlike anyone else. His style is recognizable, his "dirty realism" is mesmerizing. Almost all of his works are autobiographical, that is, he was not only a talented writer, but also a very interesting, unusual person. A man who was a failure for a long time, but still managed to achieve recognition …
early years
Charles Bukowski was born in Europe - in the German town of Andernach in 1920. His mother was a seamstress by profession, and his father (his name was Henry) was a soldier in the American army. In 1923, due to economic problems in their native country, the family moved to another continent, to the States - first to the town of Baltimore, and then to Los Angeles.
Since childhood, Charles's relationship with his father did not work out - he was an adherent of cruel methods of upbringing. When Charles was sixteen, he came home drunk. Father decided to teach him a lesson for this. But this time the young man decided to fight back and struck back at his father in the jaw. After this incident, Bukowski Sr. did not touch his son at all.
After graduating from high school, Charles attended college in Los Angeles for some time, but almost immediately became disillusioned with his studies. For the next six months, Bukowski worked in various low-paid jobs, and whiled away his leisure time in bars, pumping himself up with alcohol (his addiction to the green snake will remain with him for life). Then he left Los Angeles and began to wander around America.
Writing career and novels of the author
The young writer actively wrote poetry and stories until 1945 - several magazines even published his works. But Bukowski realized that he could not make a quick career in the literary world. He returned to his parents' home in Los Angeles and gave up writing for a full ten years.
Only in the mid-fifties did he start writing poetry and prose again. And gradually (thanks to publications in magazines with small circulation) he becomes a noticeable figure in a bohemian environment. And in the late sixties, he begins to write a column "Notes of an Old Goat" in the Los Angeles edition of "Open City", which further increases his recognition.
In 1971, after leaving the post of postman, Bukowski wrote in a short time, in twenty days, the novel "Post Office". This novel made Bukowski famous both in the United States and in European countries. After that Bukowski will write five more novels - "Factotum", "Women", "Bread and Ham", "Hollywood" (this novel tells about the work on the movie "Drunk", for which Bukowski wrote the script) and "Waste Paper". It is also worth mentioning the novel "Waste Paper" especially: it differs from all others in that it contains practically no autobiographical details. In addition, it was published already when Bukowski passed away.
Personal life
At twenty-seven years old, in a certain bar, Charles meets a thirty-eight-year-old, alcohol-addicted Jane Baker, and will soon marry her. Jane inspired Bukowski to take a crucial step: he took up creativity again. In fact, Jane was the brightest love in Charles's life. But at the same time, the spouses often quarreled, a couple of times they dispersed and converged again. They finally broke up after eight years - in 1955.
In the same year, the writer ties himself in marriage for the second time. Literary editor Barbara Fry becomes his new wife. At first they just corresponded, but Barbara liked the writer's works so much that she wanted to see him. But the marriage with Fry was still short-lived - after three years, the couple filed for divorce.
It is also known that for some time Bukowski met with Frances Smith, an admirer of his books. Officially, the couple did not formalize the relationship, but from Francis the writer had a daughter, Marina-Louise.
The writer met his third wife, Linda Lee Begley, when he was working on the book "Women". It all started when Bukowski accidentally walked into a diner owned by Linda. For seven years they just lived together, and only in 1985 they got married. Linda Lee Begley helped and looked after the old writer as much as she could.
And leaving was really necessary: in the last five years of his life, the writer was seriously ill. Charles's health deteriorated especially sharply after 1993 - his immune system was destroyed, one day he even lost the ability to write. As a result, despite the efforts of doctors, on March 9, 1994, the brawler, alcoholic and great writer Charles Bukowski died.
