Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window. [Pamphlet]

Charles. BUKOWSKI (Author)

Product Details

• Pamphlet
• Publisher: Poetry X/Change; First Edition edition (1968)
• ASIN: B001V7KBW8
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,789,298 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

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Flawed Gem, April 15, 2000

By 

Arthur (Lawrence, Kansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poems written before jumping out of an 8 story window (Paperback)

It's been several years since I read this early work of Bukowski's--while sitting in a special collections room at the Washington University library (they have an excellent archive of contemporary American writers). From what I recall, this collection typifies Bukowski's poetry of the 50s and 60s. His writing is tentative and uneven, his style is still somewhat uncertain, but the passion and vitality are quite evident. It's a small volume in which Bukowski-- having only recently turned to writing poetry in earnest--is still experimenting with the form. He had not yet found his colloquial, natural voice nor had he developed the "Chinaskian" persona that would dominate his work by the late-1970s. I recommend this volume to any Bukowski enthusiast who wants to explore the emergence and development of his poetic talents. It's a rather uneven and flawed book, but entertaining, evocative and sometimes beautiful.