Beerspit Night and Cursing [Paperback]

Charles Bukowski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2002

Unmasks the tough, street-smart persona of Charles Bukowski—America's "Ultimate Outsider"

• Amazing letters filled with passionate, literary, and personal observation
• Insights into the author of Tales of Ordinary Madness, Notes of a Dirty Old Man, and Run with the Hunted
• Insights into Sheri Martinelli: the protege of Anais Nin, an accomplished painter, and the mistress of Ezra Pound Charels Bukowski's persona as the Dirty Old Man of American Literature is just that: a persona, a mask beneath which there was a man better read and more cultured than most people realize.

Sheri Martinelli was one of the favored few for whom Bukowski dropped the mask and engaged in serious discussion of literature and art, and for that reason the discovery and publication of his letters to her give us a more complete picture of this complicated man.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Literary bad boy Bukowski and New York editor/scenester Martinelli Ezra Pound's former girlfriend exchanged hundreds of pages of wacky, outrageous, often oddly intellectual correspondence, but never actually met. Moore, who knew Martinelli and has written or edited several volumes on William Gaddis and others, posits, in a very necessary introduction, that Martinelli "was one of the favored few for whom Bukowski dropped the mask and engaged in serious discussion of literature and art." Predictably, Bukowski wasn't meticulous about saving Martinelli's letters, so his voice dominates, which is not a bad thing his letters are more substantively and stylistically interesting than Martinelli's, which tend to mimic Pound while reacting to Bukowski's offenses and exaggerations. Hell-bent on breaking every rule of style, Bukowski sometimes achieves lively, spontaneous prose ("don't you go slipping me no god damned educational material, I got an education of my own, mostly all at once one night"), sometimes cryptic utterances ("much short, today. tied to rocks of all sorts but will escape") and outright misogyny ("I do not read a female face; I read a female ass"). While Bukowski's letters (often written under the influence of alcohol and nausea) are shot through with vulgarity, much semi-concealed literary criticism can be gleaned. This important volume will be required reading for scholars of Bukowski, Pound, the Beat poets and American postwar art and poetry. Fans of Bukowski's irreverent ranting will rejoice; others may tire of his relentless, self-indulgent misanthropy. 16 pages of illus. not seen by PW.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Charles Bukowski is one of America's best-known contemporary writers of poetry and prose, and, many would claim, its most influential and imitated poet. He was born in Andernach, Germany, and raised in Los Angeles, where he lived for fifty years. He published his first story in 1944, when he was twenty-four, and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. He died in San Pedro, California, on March 9, 1994, at the age of seventy-three, shortly after completing his last novel, Pulp.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Ecco (June 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574231502
• ISBN-13: 978-1574231502
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,378,306 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles Bukowski is one of America's best-known contemporary writers of poetry and prose, and, many would claim, its most influential and imitated poet. He was born in Andernach, Germany, and raised in Los Angeles, where he lived for fifty years. He published his first story in 1944, when he was twenty-four, and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. He died in San Pedro, California, on March 9, 1994, at the age of seventy-three, shortly after completing his last novel, Pulp (1994).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Slow going, but worth it for Bukowski fans, June 18, 2001

By 

Keith Nichols (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beerspit Night and Cursing (Hardcover)

You can't critique a collection of someone's letters on the same basis you would their published public works. But in this volume, the first thing you might wonder is why two articulate people chose to affect such an inarticulate, though sometimes inventive, style. All collections of Bukowski letters contain many cryptic and rambling missives of this sort, and I suppose they may be excused as the unedited utterings of a drunk and/or hung-over mind. But I'm led to believe that Bukowski produced a lot of work in that condition, including his better-crafted stories; so why must the letters be so sloppy? Even as first drafts, they're a bit much. And why Ms. Martinelli chose to emulate this style is another question, unless of course she was similarly indisposed. Maybe it was an accepted literary style in the '60s. At any rate, it makes the book a slow slog, although some new insights into Bukowski's nature and ideas may be winnowed with diligent application. Like many of the Bukowski-related volumes, this one seems to be more for the fan and collector than for the casual reader. There are a few photos of the two authors in the center of the book. Black Sparrow Press did its usual commendable job of design and production.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but Hard to Read., April 26, 2001

By 

Mark Begley "Letterpressed.com" (Fresno, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beerspit Night and Cursing (Paperback)

BEERSPIT NIGHT is an interesting entry into the volumes of Bukowski letters published by Black Sparrow. This is a venture between two people who were involved with Bukowski and Martinelli professionally and personally: John Martin, publisher of BSP, and Steven Moore, the editor of this book, respectively. The correspondence is lively, Bukowski seems to have met his match, and enlightening. Bukowski, as Moore states, reveals more of his artistic and literary leanings with Martinelli than he did with anyone else he exchanged missives with (Martin and Bukowski's widow may be the only other people to have seen this side of him). The book appears to have been a labor-of-love for Moore, who knew Martinelli, and Martin shows his usual loving care with this book as he has with every other Buk book. The only problem I have encountered so far (at only 1/4 of the way through) is Moore's decision to leave much of the original purposeful misspellings and colloquialisms of both Bukowski and Martinelli. It becomes quite tiresome, like spending hours trying to solve word problems. And, for some reason the footnotes are not numbered, so many a reader may actually pass them over not realizing they're there. Those who think they know everything about Bukowski might discover some revelations in these letters.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not essential, August 22, 2003

By 

SPM "scott_maykrantz" (Eugene, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beerspit Night and Cursing (Paperback)

Black Sparrow is digging deep into the heap of leftovers to come up with some "new" Bukowski. This is the worst after-he-died book to be released. Almost all of the letters are by Bukowski. That's a relief because Sheri Martinelli's letters are unreadable. The spelling, punctuation, and stream of consciousness writing style make her letters impenetrable.

Bukowski's letters are readable, but he's too young here to have much to say. Frankly, Bukowski's early work is pretty weak. It wasn't until the late 1970s that he became the great writer we know and love. Here, he picks up on Martinelli's racism, runs with it halfheartedly, and praises her for no reason. The letters are very drunk and usually pointless. Some of the angry wisdom shines through, but not much. This is a book for diehard Bukowski fans only. It's a bad representation of his work.