Mark Beyer's Blog: Mark Beyer Reads and Writes - Posts Tagged "postoffice"
The Quick and Pithy of MY READING MIND... Post Office
"Post Office" by Charles Bukowski
Bukowski is crude in his writing; at least, the society he describes is permeated by "the crude", and also some of the crudest among Americans. In interviews, Bukowski seems to be one of the nicest, most mild-mannered gentlemen to swig from a beer can.
He wrote of life in the 1940s & '50s: crude, uneducated people.
He wrote of the late '60s: still crude people, perhaps cruder.
Is our perception of an educated America only that? Or had its softening, through higher education and bromide TV, come only in the late '70s or '80s & beyond? Or, was Bukowski showing us that segment of society few of us congenial sorts (!) ever see? We certainly don't go looking for that! Nor do we wish to fall to its level.
Take life in the L.A. postal system: working stiffs; uneducated sorts, who pick up, sort, load, carry, and deliver the mail. Who among us have ever thought of "the postman" as educated? If he were, he wouldn't be a postman. That's the spirit of the thought-not-made-verbal (except at home around the dinner table).
And perhaps all of this is Bukowski's point. Though his characterization of mail recipients shows that they are not such a fun bunch either. "Post Office" is an American story, well worth an afternoon's reading.
-- Mark Beyer
author of What Beauty and Max, the blind guy, and The Janitor: Or, Dostoevsky in America. To sample and buy: https://rb.gy/poyrsd
#ReadersWanted #GoodRead #bookworm #booklover #dostoevsky #artstory #bookshop #schoolshootings
Bukowski is crude in his writing; at least, the society he describes is permeated by "the crude", and also some of the crudest among Americans. In interviews, Bukowski seems to be one of the nicest, most mild-mannered gentlemen to swig from a beer can.
He wrote of life in the 1940s & '50s: crude, uneducated people.
He wrote of the late '60s: still crude people, perhaps cruder.
Is our perception of an educated America only that? Or had its softening, through higher education and bromide TV, come only in the late '70s or '80s & beyond? Or, was Bukowski showing us that segment of society few of us congenial sorts (!) ever see? We certainly don't go looking for that! Nor do we wish to fall to its level.
Take life in the L.A. postal system: working stiffs; uneducated sorts, who pick up, sort, load, carry, and deliver the mail. Who among us have ever thought of "the postman" as educated? If he were, he wouldn't be a postman. That's the spirit of the thought-not-made-verbal (except at home around the dinner table).
And perhaps all of this is Bukowski's point. Though his characterization of mail recipients shows that they are not such a fun bunch either. "Post Office" is an American story, well worth an afternoon's reading.
-- Mark Beyer
author of What Beauty and Max, the blind guy, and The Janitor: Or, Dostoevsky in America. To sample and buy: https://rb.gy/poyrsd
#ReadersWanted #GoodRead #bookworm #booklover #dostoevsky #artstory #bookshop #schoolshootings
Mark Beyer Reads and Writes
Here I'll give my opinions and recommendations (or not) of books I've recently read. I also write about writing novels and that craft. Enjoy!
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