Bukowski, Charles

Original Promotional broadside/Poster: "Wanted: Pulp"

Boston, MA: Black Sparrow Press, 1994. First Edition. Single Sheet. “We waited and waited. All of us. Didn’t the shrink know that waiting was one of the things that drove people crazy? People waited all their lives. They waited to live, they waited to die. They waited in line to buy toilet paper. They waited in line for money. And if they didn’t have any money they waited in longer lines. You waited to go to sleep and then you waited to awaken. You waited to get married and you waited to get divorced. You waited for it to rain, you waited for it to stop. You waited to eat and then you waited to eat again. You waited in a shrink’s office with a bunch of psychos and you wondered if you were one.”--Charles Bukowski, Pulp. Charles Bukowski (1920-1994), the great American cult favorite poet-denizen of the dive bar & the racetrack, was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Bukowski published extensively in small literary magazines and with small presses beginning in the early 1940s and continuing on through the early 1990s. He wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels, eventually publishing over sixty books during the course of his career, including his Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window (1968), published by his friend and fellow poet Charles Potts (b. 1943), and Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame (1974). His other well-known and beloved works include: the novels Post Office (1971) and Women (1978); the poetry collections previously stated; and the short story collections Notes of a Dirty Old Man (1969) and Tales of Ordinary Madness (1983), among many other great works. Offered today is a promotional broadside for the 1994 novel, which would ultimately be his last, Pulp. Published in 1994 shortly before his death, Pulp was a project that Buk started working on in ‘91, however, he frequently ran into a handful of problems while writing it and then in ‘93 fell ill which complicated the process even more. Pulp is a pulp fiction novel which acts also as a meta-pulp. The novel comments on the obsessions of the pulp fiction genre, making fun of itself as stereotypical of the genre in the grimiest form. Bukowski dedicates the story to "bad writing", as Bukowski did not plan his mystery novel well and frequently wrote Nicky Belane into holes from which he could not escape. Bukowski wrote some of his most violent, cynical, sarcastic, and shocking work during the final months of his life. Many critics have agreed this novel exemplifies Bukowski showing an acceptance of his own pending mortality. A convoluted detective story about a hard-boiled private eye who solves his cases by waiting them out, Pulp evokes Raymond Chandler (1888-1959), an author who lived in Los Angeles and set stories there, as did Bukowski. The novel also bears similarity to some works by Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961); and the name of character Nicky Belane rhymes suggestively with the name of author Mickey Spillane (1918-2006) as well as Casablanca's main character Rick Blaine. The broadside offered today is a color broadside that highlights its noir-inspired aesthetic with an evocative, striking red to juxtapose the more sterile white, black and gray. A smoking revolver, the iconic Black Sparrow Press sparrow, and a photograph of the old poet-denizen of the divebar’s mug taken by Michael Montfort (1940-2008), this broadside is a classic, iconically designed piece that perfectly encapsulates the “pulp” look and feel, while also paying homage to the noir genre. From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed mate in the UK who managed the fabled Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England with Bill Butler (1934-1977), the famed American-expatriate bookseller & publisher). From the late 1960s through the early 1970s, Unicorn proffered & published many outstanding productions by WSB, J.G. Ballard et al., some of which have become the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (see an example with our item nos. 8217, 8366). After prevailing against censorious harassment efforts, Unicorn closed & Butler died in short order. Cupidi went on to found the Public House Bookshop in Brighton, which had a long & successful run but is also now closed, & he still resides there. We have been honored to obtain what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining treasures of Unicorn & Public House, some of which have become the stuff of myth. A great Bukowski rarity! Single sheet Color broadside (approx. 6 1/2" x 13"). First & presumably only printing. Broadside in very fine condition with only minor wear to fine edges. Very Fine. [Item #8671]

Price: $75.00