Bukowski and the Beats - M J Poynter

Bukowski and the Beats is an extended essay (14,000 words) examining the life and work of Charles Bukowski. As a solitary writer of drunkenness and despair, Bukowski's tales of ordinary madness have inspired many readers to recognise a sense of heroism within their everyday lives. His masterful depictions of skid row, with its seedy bars, prostitutes and cheap rooming houses, portrays America's underclass in graphic detail. Often regarded as a laureate of American low life, Bukowski's gritty emphasis on low-brow culture has influenced much of the "dirty realism" that became predominant in the 1970's and 80's. Today his work serves as a critique on the social effects of Post-War industrialization with its ever increasing class divide and uneven redistribution of wealth. His depictions of marginal characters, such as, hustlers, bums and drunks, combined with graphic descriptions of blue-collar exploitation, appear to have foreseen the disintegration of post-War America before it even happened. It is from this perspective that Bukowski and the Beats provides a Proletarian Writer's Portrayal of the Degradation and Exploitation of America's Working-Class.