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Charles Bukowski lays bare Hollywood, revealing the absurdity and egotism behind the glamour
‘What will you do?’
‘Oh, hell, I’ll write a novel about writing the screenplay and making the movie.’
‘What are you going to call it?’
‘Hollywood.’
Henry Chinaski has a penchant for booze, women and horse-racing. On his precarious journey from poet to screenwriter he encounters a host of well-known stars and lays bare the absurdity and egotism of the film industry. Poetic, sharp and dangerous, Hollywood – Bukowski’s fictionalisation of his experiences making the film Barfly – explores the many dark shadows to be found in the neon-soaked glare of Hollywood’s limelight.
“No other book gets as close to the corrupt heart of American movie-making”
guardian
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“A literary immortal”
time
“Bukowski’s voice is insistent and affirming but it also has the humble durability of someone who won’t stay down … His stories help keep people alive”
independent
“A laureate of American low life”
time
“Full of entertaining vignettes of celebrities”
the Times
Charles Bukowski
Charles Bukowski was the legendary Californian writer who became famous for his semi-autobiographical books about low-life America. Novels such as Factotum and Post Office made this one-time bum, and lifelong alcoholic, rich and famous, and culminated in the making of Barfly, a major Hollywood movie based on his life starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. He died in March 1994.