Charles Bukowski (August 16, 1920 - March 9, 1994), American poet and novelist, was born in Andernach, Germany and moved to Los Angeles, California three years later. He acknowledged Anton Chekhov, Ernest Hemingway, John Fante, Louis-Ferdinand Céline and others as influences on his writing, and was also knowledgeable about classical music. He was extremely prolific, publishing over 40 books of poetry and prose between 1960 and the early 1990s.
Bukowski spent much of his life sleeping on the streets, and was a long-term functioning alcoholic. One of his poems describes his enjoyment of having a medical checkup at which he found that his drinking had had no perceptible effect on his health.
The film Barfly, starring Mickey Rourke, was based on his life, the main character being his alter-ego, Henry Chinaski. His novel Hollywood was based on the tribulations of making this film.
Flower, Fist and Bestial Wall (1960)
Bibliography
Longshot Pomes for Broke Players (1962)
Run with the Hunted (1962)
It Catches My Heart in Its Hand (1963)
Crucifix in a Deathhand (1965)
Cold Dogs in the Courtyard (1965)
Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live with Beasts (1965)
All the Assholes in the World and Mine(1966)
The Curtains Are Waving... (1967)
Poems Written Before Jumping out of an 8 Story Window (1968)
At Terror Street and Agony Way (1968)
A Bukowski Sampler (1969)
Notes of a Dirty Old Man (1969)
Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills (1969)
Fire Station (1970)
Post Office (1971)
Another Academy (1970)
Anthology of LA Poets (1972)
Mockingbird, Wish Me Luck (1972)
Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness (1972)
South of No North (1973)
Burning in Water Drowning in Flame: Selected Poems 1955-1973 (1974)
Factotum (1975)
Scarlet (1976)
Love is a Dog from Hell (1977)
Women (1978)
You Kissed Lilly (1978)
Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit (1979)
Shakespeare Never Did This (1979)
Dangling in the Tournefortia (1981)
Ham on Rye (1982)
Hot Water Music (1983)
Bring Me Your Love (1983)
There's No Business (1984)
War All the Time: Poems 1981-1984 (1984)
You Get So Alone at Times It Just Makes Sense (1986)
The Movie Barfly (1987)
A Visitor Complains of My Disenfranchise (1987)
Roominghouse Madrigals: Early Selected Poems 1946-1966 (1988)
Hollywood (1989)
Septuagenarian Stew: Stories and Poems (1990)
People Poems (1991)
Bluebird (1991)
In the Shadow of the Rose (1991)
Three Poems (1992)
Last Night of the Earth Poems (1992)
Run with the Hunted: A Charles Bukowski Reader (1993)
Screams from the Balcony: Selected Leters 1960-1970 (1993)
Pulp (1994)
Shakespeare Never Did This (Augmented Edition) (1995) Books
See also: Black Mountain Poets