Charles Bukowski

By Samantha Hilsenrod 

Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski

Born as Heinrich Karl Bukowski in Germany, Charles Bukowski emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1923 at the age of three. They first arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, where they stayed for several years before settling in Los Angeles, California. In his autobiographical works, Bukowski claims that his father often became mentally and physically abusive while his mother sat by idly. As a result, he spent most of his childhood withdrawn as a social outcast. His German heritage and odd clothing became fodder for neighborhood bullies, who bothered Bukowski well into his teens. To cope, he began drinking at an early age, the roots of his chronic alcoholism, which he discusses in much of his prose. He graduated from Los Angeles High School and briefly attended Los Angeles City College. During World War II, Bukowski moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested him for draft evasion, though he later failed the psychological exam mandatory for those entering military service. The same year, he published his first short story, followed by another two years later. 

Charles Bukowski

Despite his early successes, he became disillusioned with a career in literature and began a ten-year drunken binge, working odd jobs to support his lifestyle. This period provided a significant amount of material for his later autobiographical and semi-autobiographical works. Today, Bukowski has become one of the most popular American poets and a champion of the working class. His works, both prose and poetry, focus on relationships, sex, alcohol, menial labor, and the struggle to write. Bukowski published more than 60 books before his death, including six novels and several collections of short stories. His first novel, Post Office, remains one of his most popular. Loosely based on his own life, the novel follows Henry Chinaski, a substitute mail carrier. Disillusioned with life, Chinaski quits and pursues a life of debauchery, living on winnings from betting at the track. Eventually, Chinaski returns to the post office for employment and describes the long hours of monotonous labor as his opinion of life dwindles. Representing Bukowski at a younger age, Chinaski served as the protagonist of several later novels, including Barfly and Factotum.