Absence of the Hero, Vol. 2


Everyone’s favorite Dirty Old Man returns with a new volume of uncollected work. Charles Bukowski (1920–1994), one of the most outrageous figures of twentieth-century American literature, was so prolific that many significant pieces never found their way into his books. Absence of the Hero contains much of his earliest fiction, unseen in decades, as well as a number of previously unpublished stories and essays. The classic Bukowskian obsessions are here: sex, booze, and gambling, along with trenchant analysis of what he calls “Playing and Being the Poet.” Among the book’s highlights are tales of his infamous public readings (“The Big Dope Reading,” “I Just Write Poetry So I Can Go to Bed with Girls”); a review of his own first book; hilarious installments of his newspaper column, Notes of a Dirty Old Man, including meditations on neo-Nazis and driving in Los Angeles; and an uncharacteristic tale of getting lost in the Utah woods (“Bukowski Takes a Trip”). Yet the book also showcases the other Bukowski—an astute if offbeat literary critic. From his own “Manifesto” to his account of poetry in Los Angeles (“A Foreword to These Poets”) to idiosyncratic evaluations of Allen Ginsberg, Robert Creeley, LeRoi Jones, and Louis Zukofsky, Absence of the Hero reveals the intellectual hidden beneath the gruff exterior.

Our second volume of his uncollected prose, Absence of the Hero is a major addition to the Bukowski canon, essential for fans, yet suitable for new readers as an introduction to the wide range of his work.

Author(s): Charles Bukowski  

ISBN 10: 0872865312
ISBN 13: 9780872865310
Pages: 300
Format: Paperback
Publication: April 2010
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Other books by Charles Bukowski

1. 20 Poemas (Poems) Paperback (12/15/1999)
2. A Bukowski Sampler (1988/09/01)
3. At Terror Street and Agony Way (July 2000)
4. Ausencia del Heroe Paperback - Spanish (November 2011)
5. Avec Les DamnyS Paperback - French (2002/10/15)
6. Barfly (March 1984)
7. Barfly: The Continuing Saga of Henry Chinaski Hardcover (1985/03/01)
8. Beauti - Ful and Other Long Poems (1999/09/11)
9. Beerspit Night and Cursing: The Correspondence of Charles Bukowski and Sheri Martinelli, 1960-1967 Paperback (June 2002)
10. Beerspit Night and Cursing: The Correspondence of Charles Bukowski and Sheri Martinelli, 1960-1967 Hardcover (June 2002)
11. Betting on the Muse Paperback (June 2002)
12. Betting on the Muse : Poems and Stories Hardcover (1996/04/01)
13. Bone Palace Ballet Paperback (June 2002)
14. Bone Palace Ballet : New Poems Hardcover (1997/04/01)

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