Charles Bukowski (stories)

[Chowhound]

I'm not sure about the argument that drugs enhances your ability to be "creative" or to produce something good or different. Well, the Beatles experimented with drugs, and hey, look at their history.

The reason I'm posting this is because I like Bukowski's work. I think he had tremendous talent. He was also a raging alcoholic that did a lot of his writing while drinking.

Could he have been better sober?

Or did the alcohol make him better?

I kind of believe that we don't really possess talent per se. That we are mere vehicles of sorts that the energy or power or whatever you want to call it, flows through us. So would he have been a better "receptor" if sober or being drunk allowed him to "receive" and pass the "flow".

[Fred314X]

I've always wondered the same things about William S. Burroughs. I love the way he used a (literal) cut-and-paste method to make language do what he wanted. True, a lot of people have problems with his subject matter. But his writing has always fascinated me.

[Coolhand68]

I'm a big Buk fan myself. From what I've read, he really didn't drink as much as he let on in his writings. Perhaps he had moments or phases in his life where he did, but I think he embellished just a tad. I do believe he was able to find "inspiration" in the bottle. Much the way many writer's and artists create some of their best work under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Hemingway, Faulkner, Poe, and Kerouac all wrote under the influence as well as many other famous writer's who wrote while addicted to heroin. Other writer's were known for experimenting with LSD and perhaps these "trips" expanded their creative process.

[zthatzmanz28]

Like Allen Ginsberg, I thought Bukowski and Burroughs were just short of literay genius..

Then I gave up the alcohol and detoxed..

Suddenly their writing was just drug-induced nonsense, much like my high school friends used to speak...

Though Bukowski really hit close to home with his story of Billy hanging on the back porch...

[linicx]

I lived around drunk the first 40 years of my life. Most of them told great stories, but they weren't particularly interesting or brilliant when they were sober. The exceptions were the professionals who knew their craft well inside and out. The lawyer drank his lunch and slept through my brother's divorce. He was in court an hour. I wrote my own. The judge commented on how well it was written, and was out of the court room in seven minutes.

Not all great writers indulge in the drink, but it is not uncommon for persons in high pressure jobs to drink, nor is it uncommon for the truly brilliant to be soused.

[brubaker]

Well I'll say this, drink and drugs will eventually lead you into some dramatic, interesting moments.