Book description
'Fear makes me a writer, fear and a lack of confidence'
Charles Bukowski chronicled the seedy underside of the city in which
he spent most of his life, Los Angeles. His heroes were the
panhandlers and hustlers, the drunks and the hookers, his beat the
racetracks and strip joints and his inspiration a series of dead-end
jobs in warehouses, offices and factories. It was in the evenings that
he would put on a classical record, open a beer and begin to type...
Brought up by a violent father, Bukowski suffered childhood beatings
before developing horrific acne and withdrawing into a moody
adolescence. Much of his young life epitomised the style of the Beat
generation - riding Greyhound buses, bumming around and drinking
himself into a stupor. During his lifetime he published more than
forty-five books of poetry and prose, including the novels Post
Office, Factotum, Women and Pulp. His novels sold
millions of copies worldwide in dozens of languages.
In this definitive biography Barry Miles, celebrated author of
Jack Kerouac: King of the Beats, turns his attention to the
exploits of this hard-drinking, belligerent wild man of literature.
Barry Miles is a bestselling author of numerous biographies and
cultural histories of the Beat Generation luminaries, The Beatles, the
sixties movements and its musicians. He lives in London and France.
