Charles Bukowski Uncensored CD [Unabridged, Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Charles Bukowski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2000

From his early hardscrabble life to his literary success, Charles Bukowski's unique personality came alive through his work. In 1993, the year before he died, this counterculture icon recorded and published selections from his classic Run With the Hunted. Now, for the first time, additional material from that recording session is included on this special, expanded edition, including candid conversations between Bukowski, his wife, and his producer. For any fan of Charles Bukowski, these recordings are an intimate look at a brilliant and wild mind.

Includes poems and selections from: Consummation of Grief; Less Delicate Than the Locust; are you drinking?; Ham on Rye; we ain't got no money, honey but we got rain; and The Genius of the Crowd

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From recollections of early childhood in Germany and L.A. in the '20s to the unflinching reflections of a grizzled septuagenarian, the stunning directness and infamous "bad attitude" of Bukowski's autobiographical poetry and fiction are as captivating as they are repugnant. Faithfully anthologized here by his longtime editor and arranged in chronological order, these excerpts from more than 20 of Bukowski's published books chronicle--both explicitly and through several recurring personas--the major events of the author's life: childhood, the Depression and WW II, the deaths of parents and lovers, his experience in Hollywood, illness and old age. Bukowski's signature themes are also present: the racetrack, drinking, violence, women, sex and, of course, writing. Set in some half-dozen big cities, and several grim hinterlands in between, they depict protagonists listlessly careening through unusual jobs, seedy bars and squalid apartments where they are observed in fierce lovers' quarrels or in solitary debauch with just some booze and a typewriter. All are rendered with great immediacy, disturbing candor and Bukowski's singular blend of cynicism, misanthropy and unexpected sentimentality. While devotees may prefer the original volumes in their entirety, this is an effective primer for the uninitiated, or a refresher for past readers who, incredibly, have managed to forget.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Read by Bukowski, the works take on greater magnitude from the intensity of his soft, almost calm voice... Stunning." -- -- Houston Daily Cougar

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Caedmon; Unabridged edition (September 19, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0694524220
• ISBN-13: 978-0694524228
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #744,194 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

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unforgetable reading experience, June 28, 2002

By 

Reviewer X (Las Vegas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Run With the Hunted: A Charles Bukowski Reader (Paperback)

I am not going to go over the contents of the book, or much about Charles Bukowski, because if you are considering this book you must know something about the man and his work. I will just give you my impression of this collection of work.
No collection can ever really be complete, there are always new things to add, new commentary, newly discovered works, transcripts of records and unpublished letters, but this book does an excellent job in its attempt.
To me Charles Bukowski will always be one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century, because of the sheer brutality and honesty his work emanates. It is funny, sad, sadistic, cruel, scathing, enlightening and thought provoking. Everything I like to read. This is poetry for people who are disgusted by verse of flowers, trees and Greek mythology. This is RAW human emotion and experience smeared out onto paper. It is not perfect, and it is not trying to be. It doesn't always work, but there in lies the subtle beauty of Bukowski's efforts. the guts to try. The attempts at honesty, clearly blocked by his unwillingness to divulge everything, and his cynicism of man.
This collection is shocking in its beauty, and inspiring by its simplicity. Enjoy.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A voice from the other side, January 22, 2001

By 

T. Bekken (Austmarka Norway) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Run With the Hunted: A Charles Bukowski Reader (Paperback)

To a kid growing up in a small town in Norway, Bukowski was definitely a voice from another reality. In many ways, his prose and poetry showed that the bums and the lowlifes - in other words; the hunted - actually had a voice, and a strong one at that... The greatness of Bukowski lies in his ability to tell extremely complex stories in a straightforward, deceptively simple language and style. The poetry is also very sharp and precise. Whatever the man did to himself with regard to drink and drugs; it never took away a smattering of his ability to observe the human predicament in all its glory - or terror, depending on whom you might ask... This 'reader' is a good place to start for anybody who would like to get acquainted with Bukowski's work. It contains poems and stories that stay on the reader's mind for a long time. The writings are also a reminder that no matter how hard a person might believe in the American dream, the dream doesn't work for everybody.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Bukowski addicts!, October 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Charles Bukowski Uncensored CD (Audio CD)

This recording is a MUST for all those, like myself, who regard Bukowski as the one true voice of the fringe-dwelling dispossesed. People focus on his hard-drinking, his 'bum-like' persona, but what makes him remarkable is how his fiction and poetry reflects REALITY: the 'failure' and humiliation of being an artist (and essentially voiceless) in America. I listened to this recording with friends -- and we all agreed that it captures the man.

Also recommended: ... Run With the Hunted, Post Office, Ham on Rye, Factotum, Women by Buk, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez