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“Genius could be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way, or even to say a simple thing in a simpler way.”—Charles Bukowski
In The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way, Charles Bukowski considers the art of writing, and the art of living as a writer. Bringing together a variety of previously uncollected stories, columns, reviews, introductions, and interviews, this book finds him approaching the dynamics of his chosen profession with cynical aplomb, deflating pretensions and tearing down idols armed with only a typewriter and a bottle of beer. Beginning with the title piece—a serious manifesto disguised as off-handed remarks en route to the racetrack—The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way runs through numerous tales following the author’s adventures at poetry readings, parties, film sets, and bars, and also features an unprecedented gathering of Bukowski’s singular literary criticism. From classic authors like Hemingway to underground legends like d.a. levy to his own stable of obscure favorites, Bukowski uses each occasion to expound on the larger issues around literary production. The book closes with a handful of interviews in which he discusses his writing practices and his influences, making this a perfect guide to the man behind the myth and the disciplined artist behind the boozing brawler.
"Bukowski was writing before the rise of MFA programs in creative writing. He recalls: 'Somebody asked me, "Bukowski, if you taught a course in writing what would you ask them to do?" I answered "I'd send them to the racetrack and force them to bet $5 on each race." This ass thought I was joking.' There was ever a touch of wild-man bravado with Bukowski. But some might judge it a better suggestion than being told to write what you know in a seminar room on a provincial campus."—Times Literary Supplement
"This new Bukowski just released by City Lights is a real treat … From the onset, it reads like typical Bukowski—bawdy and broad, dissecting the world in which we live with piercing insight. … The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way tells us just what it’s like to live in a writer’s skin. As such, we’re afforded a rare chance to get intimate with Charles Bukowski on a whole new level."—Electric Review
Born in Andernach, Germany, and raised in Los Angeles, Charles Bukowski published his first short story when he was twenty-four and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. His first book of poetry was published in 1959; he would eventually publish more than forty-five books of poetry and prose. He died of leukemia in San Pedro, California on March 9, 1994.
David Stephen Calonne is the author of several books and has edited four previous collections of the uncollected work of Charles Bukowski for City Lights: Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook, Absence of the Hero, More Notes of a Dirty Old Man, and The Bell Tolls for No One.
Manifesto
Upon the Mathematics of the Breath and the Way
Tales
A Dollar for Carl Larsen
Hell Yes, The Hydrogen Bomb (1958)
Dialogue: Dead Man on the Fence
Bio from Long Shot Poems for Broke Players
Bukowski Meets a Merry Drunk (NOADOM, LA Free Press, March 17, 1967)
Notes of a DOM (National Underground Review, Aug 2-8, 1968
Open City, “Bukowski’s Gossip Column”
More Notes of a DOM (Candid Press, Nov 29, 1970)
Candid Press, “More Notes of a Dirty Old Man” Dec. 13, 1970
More Notes of a DOM (Candid Press, Dec 20, 1970)
Notes of a DOM (Nola Express 96, Tony Kinnard 1971)
1972 April 14, “Notes of a Dirty Old Man,” LAFP
June 23, 1972, NOADOM, LAFP
Notes of A Dirty Old Man, Open City, November 3-16, 1972
Notes of a Dirty Old Man (Nola December 8-21, 1972)
Narrative Account of Career/Guggenheim 1974
NOADOM LAFP, May 17
Notes of a DOM (July 12, 1974)
Notes of a DOM (LA Free Press, Aug 16, 1974)
Notes of a DOM (Nov 22, 1974)
LAFP, April 11, 1975, NOADOM
Notes of a DOM (LA Free Press, June 13-19, 1975)
NOADOM, LAFP, Feb 13-19, 1976/Feb. 20, 1976
Politics and Love
Dildo Man
Introductions and Criticism
“Editors (and others) Write,” Trace 36, March/April 1960
Little Magazines in America
Introduction to John William Corrington, Mr. Clean, 1964
The Corybant of Wit (Irving Layton)
Introduction to Jory Sherman
Review of John William Corrington
Another Burial of a Once Talent (John William Corrington)
Foreword to Steve Richmond
Essay on Nothing for Your Mother Nothingness
Who’s Big in the Littles
“The Deliberate Mashing of the Sun” da levy
“Charles Bukowski on Willie”, Introduction to The Cockroach Hotel by Willie [William Hageman]
Introduction to Doug Blazek’s Skull Juices
The Impotence of Being Ernest: Review of Hemingway’s Islands in the Stream
An Introduction to These Poems (Al Masarik)
“Foreword,” Steve Richmond Earth Rose, 1974
“A Note on These Poems,” 1976: “Appreciation” to Al Purdy’s At Marsport Drugstore
“About Aftermath,” 1983
“Preface”, The Bukowski/Purdy Letters 1964-1974
Introduction to Horsemeat
Douglas Goodwin Intro
1988 Foreword to MacDonald Carey Beyond That Further Hill
“Further Musings,” Half-Truth, Nov./Dec.
Interviews
Stonecloud Interview
Berkeley Barb Interview
New York Quarterly, 27, Summer 1985, William Packard, Craft Interview
“Gin-Soaked Boy” Film Comment, Vol 23, No. 4, July/August 1987
Lizard Eyelid’s Interview with Charles Bukowski