In 1967, after years of struggling for recognition that seemed elusive, Bukowski succeeded through his weekly autobiographical column "Notes of a Dirty Old Man," and later through the book of the same name published in 1969.
He continued to maintain the column for almost the next twenty years, and many of the texts became the raw material for his books. However, over time, the prolific author let some of those texts fade away.
Some More Notes of a Dirty Old Man includes some of these texts. In them, we encounter his usual obsessions – sex, alcohol, gambling. We also find his unconventional views on politics and literature, his tumultuous relationships with various women, and his lively adventures in the circles of poets.
Read an excerpt
The guy had taken my father's place once again: RESPONSIBILITY, SOCIETY, HOMELAND, DUTY, MATURITY, all those boring and harsh words. But why were they all so anxious? Why did they harbor such hatred? They simply showed that they were afraid someone else might be having a good time or not constantly miserable. It seemed as if they wanted everyone else to go through the same hardships as they did. Wasn't it ENOUGH that I worked alongside him like an idiot? Wasn't it enough that I was losing the few beautiful moments left in my life? No, he wanted me to agree with his stubborn head, to smell his dirty socks, to share his nerves and to hate others just like him. I WASN'T GETTING PAID for that, the jerk. And that was what wore you down at work – not the physical labor, but the fact that you were locked in with the dead.
