Description: Author Charles Bukowski's life, work and continuing influence on modern literature.
Charles Bukowski was born in Germany, shortly after World War I, to a German mother and an American soldier father. When he was two years eight months old, he and his parents boarded a ship and sailed to the United States, where they settled in Los Angeles, California, near Bukowski's father's family.
Shortly after America joined World War II, Bukowski left Los Angeles (possibly to avoid military service, though the draft board eventually caught up with him in New Orleans). He traveled around the country, spending extended periods in Philadelphia and New Orleans. During his travels, he occasionally returned to Los Angeles, but in 1947 he returned to Los Angeles permanently and lived there for the rest of his life.
While "on the road," Bukowski was published for the first time in Story magazine. The year was 1944, and he was 24 years old. At that time, he was primarily a short story writer who only occasionally wrote poetry. But a decade later, in 1954, that would change after Bukowski suffered an internal hemorrhage and spent nine days on the cusp of death in Los Angeles County Hospital. After that experience, he began writing much more poetry and quickly became one of the most unique and influential voices in 20th-c