Charles Bukowski

(...taken from Barry Miles's biography on Charles Bukowski,Virgin Books,London)

 ..."This is the torture chamber.

This is where i learned something

.The old man had a razor strop he used to hang here.He'd just pick it off...Drop your pants and your shorts.I would stand about here and he would begin.And i don't know how many lashes he'd give me.They'd be hard.Eight-ten-twelve-fourteen.And of course you can't help screaming,especially when you're six years old,seven years old....

So this place holds some memories all right.It's just a terrible place to stand and talk about.

You're a small creature and you have a large creature beating on you.And the mother says OK...And at that time it's very difficult because there's no place to go,there's nothing you can do...

(.........)I guess that's where it all started-the disgusted realisation that it takes something extraordinary,like drinking or writing or classical music ,to move beyond such people.

That's why i took to Dostoevsky so quickly because you remember what he says in The Brothers Karamazov-'who doesn't want to kill the father?Who exactly?...

The disgust he made me feel for life never left.But disgust is better than anger.When you're angry you just wanna get even,when you're disgusted you just wanna get away;and with disgust you can laugh."

 

Peg@