The most underrated writer of the twentieth century.

[MorbidCuriosity]

Charles Bukowksi.
http://poemhunter.com/charles-bukowski

'Ham On Rye', arguably his greatest book, explores the themes of growing up, rejection, and class. In this semi-autobiographical novel, Bukowski deals with his childhood: the abuse he suffered from his father, whose American dream of luxury and money obscured his perception of the real world; Bukowski's battle with acne vulgaris and how it forced him into isolation; his troubles with women and alcohol. Bukowksi writes with flair and passion, simplicity and most of all, honesty.

His poetry is also outstanding - it brilliantly reveals snippets of insight into his life and philosophy.

Discuss.

[Crocodile Logic]

how is he underrated? he's every hipster girl's wet dream.

[MorbidCuriosity]

At the time, he was just another guy.
Besides, hipster girls? AFAIK hipster girls just read The Bell Jar and call it feminist.
I would jump for joy if I met one that shared my love for Bukowski's poetry.

[thebestkylever]

hardly underrated. i vote john berryman.

[Smash Adams]

Chuck Palahniuk :-d

[MorbidCuriosity]

Mkay, if you're done name-dropping you might want to actually say something about Bukowkski's work.

[aolsux]

try: overrated

[Adeniz19]

dan brown

[MorbidCuriosity]

try: overrated
Do elaborate as to why?

I realise he's not the best writer of the twentieth century, but I feel he is underrated. The style of his prose isn't original, but he pulls it off pretty well and his poetry is amazing methinks.

[MorbidCuriosity]

dan brown
Anything constructive to say? No?

[anamericangod]

I probably love his poetry more than you do. I'm not sure he is underrated. He isn't mainstream, but he has received an incredible amount of praise, and he was very talented.

Unfortunately he has been somewhat bastardized by people like Travis from Gym Class Heroes, and to some extent Craig Owens. The scene has given him some recognition because a lot of his themes tie into what this music used to stand for.

For those of you who don't know, Thursday's War All The Time is named after a book of his.

[MorbidCuriosity]

Gym Class Heroes? :-(
Aw, man. I had no idea.

[anamericangod]

Yeah, if I remember correctly, Travis wrote some blog defending Tyga and he used a bunch of Bukowski lines to illustrate his "point." It was kinda sickening.

[Adeniz19]

Anything constructive to say? No?jk rowlings

[MorbidCuriosity]

Urgh.
I do hate it when bands act pretentious to try to make themselves seem cleverer. Except when Thom Yorke does it. That can be forgiven.

Anyway, favourite Bukowski poem?

[notoaststereo]

i wouldnt say underrated. but he is excellent.

[anamericangod]

"3:16 and one half..." "starve, go mad, or kill yourself", or "The Bluebird." Hard to pick. There's some that have lines that are just amazing even by themselves.

[MorbidCuriosity]

i wouldnt say underrated. but he is excellent.
Yeah, I think maybe I overshot the basket. People that know of Bukowski love him. But really I think more people should know of Bukowski.

anamericangod, I concur. I like the way certain poems resonate in your mind. My favourites at the moment are Cause and Effect, and An Almost Made Up Poem, though they're not his best I'd say, I just like their simplicity.

[eMart]

I would've said Cormac McCarthy to an extent, but fortunately it looks like he's getting a lot more mainstream attention.

[c_rob2700]

That bitch who wrote Twilight, yeah that bitch

[aolsux]

That bitch who wrote Twilight, yeah that bitch
As most underrated? Please tell me you are joking. A book sparking a 70 million dollar opening weekend shitfest of a movie. Fuck Stephanie Meyer.

[Jason Tate]

how is he underrated? he's every hipster girl's wet dream.
:appl:

It's all of a sudden trendy to like Bukowski. Thank you Modest Mouse.

He's decent, but not great. Could very well be the next Chuck the way things are going -- he'll soon be too trendy to like.

[Jason Tate]

And the most underrated writer of the 20th century is probably someone you've never even heard of ... hence them being underrated. Probably someone like Roesch, Fowler, Weingarten, or Bechdel.

[Ailite]

He's great, but it takes awhile to realize so. He's overrated if anything. 1/ten bands has a song named after something by Bukowski.

[gilatron5000]

I've only read Post Office. I enjoyed it though.

[Ailite]

Calling him underrated is such a bad mistatement.

[saysmydoctor]

Bukowski? Spot on assessment.

[anamericangod]

I love Bukowski, but nothing beats bukkake.

[saysmydoctor]

It seems ironic to call her underrated, as she is one of the bestselling authors in the world, but I see little of her in English curriculum and she is rarely talked about: talking about the amazing Agatha Christie, the Queen of Mystery.

[thursday727]

I liked Post Office alot

I just think of that Good Life lyric

"i was convinced that i had finally found the one.
she was convinced i was under the influence
of all those drunken romantics.
i was reading Fante at the time.
but i had Bukowski on my mind"

[WakingTheMisery]

FUCK THIS THREAD.

Bukowski blows.

[chokeychicken]

i came in here to say bukowski. dude is everything that every writer should aspire to be.

[anamericangod]

i came in here to say bukowski. dude is everything that every writer should aspire to be.

Are you being sarcastic?

[WakingTheMisery]

i came in here to say bukowski. dude is everything that every writer should aspire to be.

A self-loathing, goes no where with his stories, prick?

[chokeychicken]

Are you being sarcastic?

absolutely not. i might have been over-exagurrating with my statement, but i love bukowski more than any other writer i've ever read. the first time i read "hot water music," there were times i had to go back and read paragraphs 4 and 5 times, simply out of sheer awe of the way his mind works.

A self-loathing, goes no where with his stories, prick?

no. a brutally honest author who has been places and done things and does a great job telling them on paper. the guy has this outlook on life that might be cynical and depressing, but its fucking unique and interesting at the same time. the way he looks at even the simplest things, alcohol especially, fucking fascinates me.

[anamericangod]

absolutely not. i might have been over-exagurrating with my statement, but i love bukowski more than any other writer i've ever read. the first time i read "hot water music," there were times i had to go back and read paragraphs 4 and 5 times, simply out of sheer awe of the way his mind works.



no. a brutally honest author who has been places and done things and does a great job telling them on paper. the guy has this outlook on life that might be cynical and depressing, but its fucking unique and interesting at the same time. the way he looks at even the simplest things, alcohol especially, fucking fascinates me.

Okay good, I couldn't tell if you were just throwing a sarcastic comment in there with the other negative remarks. I agree, and well said. He's my favorite as well.

And yeah his outlook might be cynical and depressing, but it's not like he's sitting around all woe is me and cutting his wrists. He could taken any situation and basically turn it into some sort of lesson on human nature. I just think his analysis of people and the world was amazing.

[WakingTheMisery]

I guess the reason I couldn't stand his stuff was because my outlook it quite the opposite of most of his stories.

[chokeychicken]

that's understandable. its certainly not for everybody. but honestly, i could read his stories about women and alcohol all day, because at some point, it becomes a view or lesson on life or the world itself. i fucking love it .

[E-Skeezy]

Though he's not really underrated by Lit professionals and critics and the like...I'd say amongst the general populace of readers, Raymond Carver probably gets my vote. It's ridiculous that at my local bookstore(a books-a-million) I can find four shelves of Steven King(who, don't get me wrong, is a fine writer) or I can find books like the one I ran across today that was set in Williamsburg and the whole plot of the book was a group of hipsters that start mysteriously getting brutally murdered; but I can't find a Raymond Carver book to save my life.(Yes, I know I can get books online, that's not the point of the argument)

[FOBcareemo]

Kurt Vonnegut.




The man is so genius that even if he's overrated, he's still underrated.

[mutualaddiction]

I've only read Ham on Rye, which was pretty damn depressing, but I liked it nonetheless.