Tales Of Ordinary Madness

I had to think pretty hard about the answer to this. To avoid a religious argument, I decided to pick something that really reflects how I see the rest of the world. If I had to choose a book to preserve for future generations, I would have to choose Tales of Ordinary Madness by Charles Bukowski.

"The difference between life and art is
art is more bearable."

The so-called drunken “poet laurite” of the 20^th century, Bukowski writes about what it takes to make it and get by in the real world. But if you read his work, he often portrays himself as a downtrodden, cold and unfeeling misanthrope author who writes only to purchase more red wine. And yet, It is at the heart of his writing that we see man’s true nature, and a considerable bit of my viewpoint on life.

I believe his writing, and Tales Of Ordinary Madness being the best example of his work I’ve come across so far, displays that reality is not some grand, glorious thing, it is simply a very quiet game wherein we all play our parts. Where the hero’s are not gleaming testaments to the very best America has to offer, but instead the real hero’s are those who are reliable, who are truthful and who call it like it is.

Bukowski seems to think that most of us are simply duped into this big grand scheme of “The American Dream” and just don’t see a way out of it. We are not to blame; we just do what we are told and move on with our lives. It is those who chose to blaze their own personal path to their own personal “American Dream” who truly are the hero’s.

I guess I wouldn’t want to leave a legacy of who we were in our time, but of what we wanted to become. Bukowski is crass, dirty and gets caught up in his own ego often, but these are fallacies we all deal with. Sometimes I just wish we could all be a little bit better to each other, and to ourselves, and I would hope that the short stories and poetry of Bukowski could teach that.

"I am still here, leaning against this machine."