Charles Bukowski's Secret Laughter Postmodern Ame

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Bukowski’s Poetry
and even if you find it
it’s really there
Secret Laughter
Two major themes of this poem are hidden greatness and anti-mediocrity. The poem begins by describing how the “lair” exists in the last place one might expect to find it, maybe hidden in the open, so obvious it becomes unexpected. For example, a literary genius might be the bum retching on the street and no one would notice, just as, as Bukowski notes at the end of the poem, “the average person” can’t recognize a masterful painting, though it hangs before them.
Indeed, Bukowski reveals a perspective, raw, unadulterated, and poignant. He probes the primordial American core and all its complexities: the primal drives, the blatant contradictions, the glorified stupidity, the inevitable doom, the meaningful meaninglessness, the subtle beauty, the madness. . . . Ultimately, he leaves behind a message of perseverance and uncompromising integrity. His tone of indignation and irreverence continues to resound, gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and visceral.
While Bukowski wrote several novels, he also produced a considerable amount of remarkable poetry. At 35, he began to write poems. His form and style varied through the years, as he constantly reinvented himself. He demolished barriers and shook foundations and is one of today’s most mimicked writers.
the lair of the hunted is
Much of Bukowski’s success might be attributed to his personification of the enlightened drunk-bum-poet, a recurring literary archetype, comparable to Baudelaire, Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac. Bukowski’s poetry, however, speaks for itself. He has gained a reputation for bringing poetry to the working class, out of the lofty realms of academia.
By concluding with idea of appreciating art, Bukowski suddenly turns the poem on itself. Is this poem a great work of art? The reader must ask this question. The reader must ask his or herself, then, whether or not he or she has the ability to identify greatness.
hidden in the last place
This emphasis on the average person brings up another of Bukowski’s themes, a stance against mediocrity. While he opposes economic and political elitist, Bukowski does embrace a kind of artistic, humanistic elitism. Opposing mediocrity and celebrating genius and the ability to recognize genius, he creates a complex philosophy that demands integrity, grit, cunning, and abandon. If nothing else, Bukowski and his poetry have guts. His words have inspired many to seek out the “lair of the h
Read on
Charles Bukowski's My Fate
Charles Bukowski's Oh, Yes
Charles Bukowski's Art
in much the same way
as the average person
you won’t believe
Found in the collection, The Pleasures of the Damned: Poems, 1951-1993 (HarperCollins, 2007), “secret laughter,” a nine-line poem,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], exhibits Bukowski’s remarkable talent. With a single, eloquent sentence, he explains how, though unrecognizable to many, hidden beauty openly exists. It follows:
Literary Themes and Interpretations
you’d ever look
One of the 20th century’s most compelling writers, Charles Bukowski left behind for his readers a wealth of brazenly beautiful poetry and prose. His legendary persona as the unemployable, derelict-alcoholic-poet, the saint of Los Angeles, bustling on the city streets with winos and whores, continues to captivate, mesmerize, and inspire. With iconoclastic vision and stylistic originality, Bukowski scratches away at an eerily squeaky-clean surface to reveal the grisly disconnect between the American dream and bitter reality.
will not believe in a great painting.