Was Charles Bukowski 'a Jew-hating Nazi sympathizer?'

From: 'Must we admire the poet to honor his work?'

 

Oscar Wilde went to prison in 1895 for flaunting his homosexuality. Ezra Pound was indicted for treason in 1943 for broadcasting on behalf of the Italian fascists in the Second World War. Dylan Thomas died in 1953 after proclaiming that he had just downed 18 straight whiskeys and wondering if it were a record.

I mention them to emphasize that not all poets are whispering pixies. Some are maniacs, some are drunks and some are general hell-raisers. Which brings us to Charles Bukowski, who was probably all of the above. Although those who knew him might agree that he was a raving, brawling alcoholic, the question has arisen: Was he a Jew-hating Nazi sympathizer? ...

 

The allegation was made by a one-time Bukowski friend turned severe critic who wrote a book suggesting that both might be true. The observation became an issue when the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission proposed that the East Hollywood house in which Bukowski wrote much of his poetry be declared a historical landmark. The current owner of the home said, more or less, over her dead body, and hired a lawyer.

Victoria Gureyeva is quoted by L.A. Weekly as saying, "This man [Bukowski] loved Hitler. This is my house, not Bukowski's. I will never allow the city of Los Angeles to turn it into a monument for this man." But the commission voted to do just that, and now it's up to the City Council to confirm or deny.

Among those commenting on the issue -- and there are many -- is the poet FrancEyE, who lived with Bukowski for three years and bore him a daughter. She said that the whole thing was, to rephrase it into more acceptable terms, bull manure. "He'd get drunk and say anything," she said, "but he wasn't a Nazi."

 

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OK, so probably Buk wasn't a Nazi, but was he anti-Semitic? FrancEyE isn't sure but says he never made a public issue of it if he was. He was born in Germany, and his maternal grandmother, whose last name was Israel, was Jewish. It's difficult to imagine anti-Semitism evolving from that. Basically, he was a man challenging the world, both with fists and words, a provocateur of amazing abilities.

Bukowski's poetry is often powerful, emerging with explosive force. An admirer once described his work as "the spoken word nailed to paper." But he could also be reflective, almost mournful. In one poem he writes: "in the company of fools/we relax upon/ordinary embankments, enjoy bad food, cheap/drink,/mingle with the men and/ladies from/hell./in the company of fools/we throw days away like/paper napkins." ... "