FACTOTUM by Bukowski
“All I want to do is get my check and get drunk.”
This was the first book by Bukowski I’d ever read, and I’ve never read author quite like him since. I’ll start by saying that I can usually identify with how Bukowski’s main character (Henry Chinaski, a semi-autobiographical version of Bukowski himself) feels, but I can almost never identify with how he acts and reacts to the world around him. His attitude is very similar in my eyes to that of 90s grungers who listened to alternative rock bands like Nirvana and decided to protest the world’s problems by ‘opting out,’ or through apathy. In fact, one Bukowski’s tombstone is in scripted ‘Don’t Try.’ Maybe that is why he still resonates with readers worldwide to this day.
The book has structure, but not an obvious one. It follows Chinaski, a quiet young man in Los Angeles in the mid 70s, as he drifts between menial jobs, has short and ill-fated affairs with women, and meets with various people, including his parents.
One striking thing about Chinaski is that he is always and constantly himself, no matter how life fluctuates around him. Much to their shock and chagrin, he speaks frankly to his parents and employers, lovers and landlords.
To his employers, he asserts:
“How in the hell could a man enjoy being awakened at 8:30 a.m. by an alarm clock, leap out of bed, dress, force-feed, shit, piss, brush teeth and hair, and fight traffic to get to a place where essentially you made lots of money for somebody else and were asked to be grateful for the opportunity to do so? “
As for his potential lovers, he gently ruminates:
“She was desperate and she was choosy at the same time and, in a way, beautiful, but she didn’t have quite enough going for her to become what she imagined herself to be.”
I do love to read Bukowski. He gently refuses to present a false front or to deny himself the things he enjoys, which as he readily admits, include leisure and alcohol. I admire his honestly and willingness to live as he chooses, though I personally can’t agree that living a life of rootless destitution and developing a dependence on alcohol is the answer to the discrepancies and complications of the modern human condition. I’ll have to keep looking and reading for that.
–The Reader
[Image reproduced with permission from Jim Barker's photostream on Flikr.com]