Visceral Bukowski: Inside the Sniper Landscape of L.A. Writers [Paperback]

Ben Pleasants (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2004

Cultural Writing. VISCERAL BUKOWSKI is a memoir of a 20-year friendship with deep insights into the personal life of Charles Bukowski and the city of Los Angeles. Here are clear chapters on childhood friends, Bukowski's flirtation with Nazism, how Pleasants and Bukowski together rediscover John Fante, adventures in Hollywood, the women, the jobs, the booze and the writing; the way it really happened without the fiction. A strikingly rich portrayal of Bukowski, a poet, who was "alive and glowing in his place in time"--Los Angeles Times.

Editorial Reviews

Review

As serious books on Charles Bukowski go, this is up there with them. Essential for Bukowski readers everywhere. -- Beat Scene

Pleasants offers a strikingly rich portrayal of Bukowski, a poet who was "alive and glowing in his place in time." -- Los Angeles Times

About the Author

Ben Pleasants is a writer who writes about writers. As a contributor to the Los Angeles Times, he was the first writer in the U.S. to review Charles Bukowski in a major newspaper.

His books of poetry include Airmail From Oblivion and 53 Stations of the Tokaido. In the last decade he has concentrated on theatre.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Sun Dog Press (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941543382
• ISBN-13: 978-0941543385
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,192,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars More Notes From the Obscure, January 11, 2005

By 

Rose Van Allen (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Visceral Bukowski: Inside the Sniper Landscape of L.A. Writers (Paperback)

All I could do was be disappointed and I was. Ben Pleasants has a reputation for being a widely published journalist; maybe that's the problem? His Visceral Bukowski is more of an odd collection of unconnected articles than anything else. It is as if Pleasants has raked the obscure to try and pull up something worth telling, but all he could find was tabloid filler. For this reader, Pleasants' Visceral Bukowski is just another one of "them" - that, for whatever reason, was written to fuel the myth. The more I read of these things the more I become convinced that the only one to truly get below the myth and bring us an honest look at Bukowski was Cherkovski. As for the Visceral Bukowski, even the most avid Bukowski fan will fine this one a stretch.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Strange Brew, September 1, 2007

By 

Jam Econo (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Visceral Bukowski: Inside the Sniper Landscape of L.A. Writers (Paperback)

Ben Pleasants has long been a important person in the L.A. writing scene. In addition to being a literary journalist, he is also a poet and playwright of some note. He also was a long-time friend of Charles Bukowski, which, combined with his skills as a writer, would seem to make him extremely qualified to take on a book such as this. Qualifications aside, what he has turned out is a very strange product indeed. Mixing tales of Bukowski's life, examinations of his writing, and stories of other writers Bukowski knew (including first and foremost Ben Pleasants himself), Pleasants creates a disjointed tapestry that can be fascinating at times and equally unsatisfying at others. While sections such as the ones that examine topics like Bukowski's fascination with Nazis are compelling, those that delve into his writing seem to miss the mark. Though the subtitle of this books shows that Pleasants' is not just writing about Bukowski but trying to place him in the larger "landscape" of the Los Angeles literary world, many of these chapters too seem to meander about, moving far away from Bukowski without ever pulling the story back together. Overall, though, this book has enough interesting new material to make it worthwhile for the hardcore Bukowski fan. Also, I'm a bit hamstringed here by the Amazon rating system. I would like to give this book three-and-half stars but am forced to choose between three and four. So give this book another half star beyond my rating.

I want to state that I know and have worked with Ben Pleasants professionally. I do not think this has affected my review, but I feel I should be open about these facts.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars talent and tragedy, March 22, 2005

By 

Gloria Gonick (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Visceral Bukowski: Inside the Sniper Landscape of L.A. Writers (Paperback)

This lively biography by Ben Pleasants deftly captures the engaging yet off putting braggadocio of Charles Bukowski, hero the so-called "Meat Poets" of the sixties and seventies. Wild episodes of drinking, gambling and womanizing seemingly drove and energized his writing.
While illuminating Bukowski's life in and around Los Angeles, Ben Pleasant's challenge of old buddy and loyal fan while official biographer brings him uneasily face to face with his subject's gusto for outrageous womanizing, drunkenness, as well as his tragic, intermittent enthusiasm for Nazism. Nevertheless, the author's long-time intimacy gave him a ring-side seat at the antics which animate this intriguing life story. Bukowski served as one of the lights of mid-twentieth century "hip" literature and this book affectionately declares, despite its unsavory aspects, his sincere commitment to his work be honorably documented.