I haven't read anything by Bukowski, out of fear that his outlook might be infectious.
So you want to be a writer?
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Re: So you want to be a writer?
#12Charles Bukowski is shit. There, I wrote it.
Re: So you want to be a writer?
#13Re: So you want to be a writer?
#14Apparently Douglas Adams found it very difficult to write. According to the biography by Neil Gaiman it was almost painful for him, every book or manuscript a chore. I'm happy he didn't follow the advice from Bukowski to just give up!
Bukowskis poem seem to represent the romantic idea that art is divinely inspired and the artist is just a vessel. Maybe it really felt like that for Bokowski, while for others writing is just hard work.
It is funny that Adams who have such a playful style of prose found writing torture, while the much more self-important and edgy Bukowski find it easy. (Assuming the poem represent his own experience.)
Re: So you want to be a writer?
#15Would love to replace writer with programmer and get back to that point in my life.
I physically feel bad when I'm not programming for a few days, and I've actually identified my situation with Bukowski's view, just had to switch "writer" to "programmer".
Re: So you want to be a writer?
#16Bukoski goes well with Philip K Dick. The portrait they paint of 1950s and 1960s America (even if accidentally) is truly dystopian, a world of wild-eyed amphetamine addicts and self-destructive alcoholics wrapped up in the social norms of their day. It's really some of the most depressing literature out there, and almost none of the characters in their works are even vaguely likable or admirable. It's probably 'good writing' in the sense of being an honest appraisal, but yikes, I wouldn't want to live in their worlds.
Re: So you want to be a writer?
#17Would love to replace writer with programmer and get back to that point in my life.
They are uhh pretty different. Code is not bursting out of me like a ray of sunshine or whatever, but it pays the bills and that is fulfilling enough.
For some people it can be, just list writing, that is the point Bukowski is trying to make.
Re: So you want to be a writer?
#18Apparently Douglas Adams found it very difficult to write. According to the biography by Neil Gaiman it was almost painful for him, every book or manuscript a chore. I'm happy he didn't follow the advice from Bukowski to just give up! Bukowskis poem seem to represent the romantic idea that art is divinely inspired and the artist is just a vessel. Maybe it really felt like that for Bokowski, while for others writing i…
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Re: So you want to be a writer?
#19Would love to replace writer with programmer and get back to that point in my life.
I dont want to maintain the code of someone who programs like that.
Re: So you want to be a writer?
#20Bukowski was an eccentric guy and often he used to contradict himself. This poem seems to encompass his life philosophy and which also happens to be written on his tombstone in just two words: "Don't try"
However, in his another poem, Roll the Dice, he presents something entirely different outlook on the subject of trying. And this is a poem I really admire.
ROLL THE DICE
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If you’re going to try, go all the way.
Otherwise, don’t even start.
If you’re going to try, go all the way.
This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs and maybe even your mind.
It could mean not eating for three or four days.
It could mean freezing on a park bench.
It could mean jail.
It could mean derision, mockery, isolation.
Isolation is the gift.
All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it.
And, you’ll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds.
And it will be better than anything else you can imagine.
If you’re going to try, go all the way.
There is no other feeling like that.
You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire.
DO IT. DO IT. DO IT. All the way
You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.