Various (Evanier, David (Editor); Bukowski, Charles; Janowitz, Phyllis; Woodcock, George et al.)

Event Vol. 2 No. 3 (Spring 1973)

New Westminster, B.C., Canada: Douglas College, 1973. First Printing. Softcover in Sewn Binding. (Debritto, B750, pg. 246). Offered here is an early number (Vol. 2, Issue 3) of Event, — the academic literary-art-cultural journal published at Douglas College in British Columbia then-edited by David Evanier (b. 1947), the noted American author & biographer. Scholars of mid-century American literature — esp. those with a specialization in The Beats — know how important all-things-epistolary are to Critically grasping the lives-&-works of those writers we devote our lives to studying. It is with this in mind that we note that the contribution of Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) — the great American cult favorite poet-denizen of the dive bar & racetrack — is, in fact an epistolary one. Titled simply “A Letter from Charles Bukowski,” this incredibly revealing letter consists of Bukowski ruminating upon the act-&-art of writing befitting of any of the Big League Modernists. The cooly-voiced bombast rivals even the proclamations of Eliot and Joyce (e.g., even Shakespeare is full of “stilted formalism,” and reading him like “chewing cardboard” to this legendary denizen of the Los Angeles Underground). Also featured are contributions of poetry & prose by numerous other contributors—all of whom do not enjoy the wide readership now afforded to Bukowski, whose early volumes, esp. soar with relevance & import. The keys to those early volumes, however, can be found all across his career — all throughout the decades he was active, really — and the place to look for those keys is in magazines like these: one-off poems or bits of correspondence in which Bukowski “wrote for himself and a few other golden ears,” to paraphrase Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) in the immortal “Belief & Technique for Modern Prose.” For writers curious about Bukowski’s process — and Critics wisely inclusive of what Wimsatt & Beardsley called the “Psychology of Composition,” — an issue like this of Evanier’s “Event” is nothing short of invaluable. Trade-format softcover in sewn binding, presumed first-&-only printing. In strong fine condition with only minute-to-minor shelf-wear, light rubbing, some yellowing/age-toning, & a few low-impact exhibits of extremely light bumping to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge; binding tight & interior impressively clean. Fine. [Item #7278]

Price: $40.00