Introduction

Bukowski wanted to be a writer. But for decades his work was rejected by almost every magazine, newspaper, journal, agent, and publisher he submitted to. The weight of his failures pushed him deep into an alcohol-fueled depression that would follow him for most of his life. Bukowski had a day job as a letter-filer at a post office. He got paid shit money and spent most of it on booze. At night, he would drink alone and sometimes hammer out poetry on his beat-up old typewriter. Upon signing the contract, Bukowski wrote his first novel in three weeks.