Against the American Dream: Essays on Charles Bukowski [Hardcover]

Russell Harrison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1994 | ISBN-10: 0876859619 | ISBN-13: 978-0876859612 | Edition: Deluxe

Charles Bukowski (1920 1994), poet laureate of the drunk and downtrodden, was an authentic folk-genius of the American vernacular. For Russell Harrison, he was also a "social lyricist" a proletarian poet who saw life-on-the-job in the United States as deadening, demoralizing, yet also the stuff of art. In this collection of essays on Bukowski's poetry and fiction, Harrison is at his most original when tracing influences on the artist's work (from the Surrealists to Jackie Gleason) and when offering us Buk as the anti-Ben Franklin (that is, as the man who defined success as refusing the American Dream).

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although Harrison's writings on Bukowski's poetry and fiction are scholarly, they are hardly unpartisan, adopting an almost strident tone in arguments that the late poet's work remains unjustly unappreciated. By his death this past year, Bukowski had written for 50 years and published five novels (most recently Pulp), five short story collections and 10 poetry collections. But, Harrison argues consistently if not always convincingly, Bukowski has been ignored by academics and anthologists in part because he doesn't fit neatly into a genre and in part because his subject is the working class. Harrison presents Bukowski as a ``social lyricist'' and ``a proletarian poet'' who saw life in America as deadening, routinized, and whose achievement was to make poetry out of his refusal to buy into the American Dream. Harrison is at his most helpful when tracing the literary and popular influences in Bukowski's work, from the Surrealists and Bertold Brecht to Henry Miller and Jackie Gleason. Harrison quotes extensively from Bukowski's writings and analyzes their message in hopes of gaining a sympathetic and wider audience for a poet who defies convention.

Copyright 1994 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"It's a funny book because Bukowski was funny . . . It gets my vote." --Beat Scene --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 323 pages
• Publisher: Black Sparrow Pr; Deluxe edition (November 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876859619
• ISBN-13: 978-0876859612
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,756,366 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A suitable tool for the serious Bukowski fan., September 29, 1998

By 

99 I Love You "dabman" (Vista, CA. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Against the American Dream: Essays on Charles Bukowski (Paperback)

The logic is clear. The examples are numerous. The only such work of its kind to my knowledge. There is plenty of academic jargon, but the ideas are recognizable. Only the complete Bukowski nut will not find something new worth considering. Readers will find the sheer volume of quotes useful, but some literary background helps, there is a chapter on 'Metonymy'. Probably too specialized for those unfamiliar with the author's work, unless they happen to be preoccupied with the American Labor Movement.

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent, October 12, 2010

By 

Eleonora - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Against the American Dream: Essays on Charles Bukowski. (Paperback)

the book arrived even before estimated,

and despite it was sold as used, it's in

really perfect conditions. couldn't ask

for more. eleonora.

3.0 out of 5 stars HARRISON vs BUKOWSKI, September 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Against the American Dream: Essays on Charles Bukowski (Paperback)

Harrison's collection of essays attempt to bend Bukowski and his work over to a leftist perspective. Looking a little closely at Bukowski, his writings (poetry, prose, stories) tend to shift in an apolitical pattern. There is no leftist consistency with his work, though I'll give three stars for Harrison's effort and my own leftist sympathies.

-- Brad Evans --