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Hey guys. Glad I found this group. I've spent the last few years reading a lot of 'must-read' books, but Bukowski was really the only author who blew me away. I've got an entire shelf of his works, and have read all his prose at least twice!

Any suggestions for where to find anything else I might enjoy outside of Buk? Contemporaries? People influenced by him?

I guess the two other authors that really stood out on my journey have been Pahlaniuk and definitely Sylvia Plath. The Bell Jar really gave me that 'transgressive fiction' vibe.

All suggestions welcome!

Chris :)
Social realism, with a reflective vibe, is what I pick up on, then I would immediately add Raymond Carver. But he does lack in the witty, morbid misanthropic style. So then I am thinking 1600's Francois de la Rochefoucauld (Maxism): /book/show/7...

Within the darker spectrum where Plath lives. To this place I would add David Foster Wallace (DFW).
Then of course as a sidetrack you do have the beat movement: ~1950's : Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and the rest...
"Tried to stay close, but its very hard, and also subjective".

Well, John Fante was Buk's self-proclaimed "god" (and my personal favorite author as well) so I don't think you can go wrong with him. Bukowski wrote a great intro for the Black Sparrow re-publication of Fante's book "Ask the Dust", check it out.

Chris,

Try Hemingway, Tom Wolfe and Hilda Hist (for me, Hilda = female version of Bukowski).

As the lovely Charis Said, try Fante. If I remember Correctly, the preface of "ask the dust" was written by Bukowski.

Dear Charis, is strictly prohibited by the laws of the universe be beautiful and have that good taste.

also highly recommend of Fante "Wait Until Spring, Bandini" and "1933 was a bad year"

Try Louis Ferdinand Celine, the dude's hard core. Don't know if he's translated in English but i would also recommend the Belgian writer Louis Paul Boon. Michel Houellebecq is another one. The Scottish writer Irvine Welsh is also a good one. And nothing to do with social realism, just an awesome writer is Elmore Leonard.

Try Apathy and Other Small Victories by Paul Neilan and The Fuck-Up by Arthur Nersesian, they are decent and have abit of Bukowski in them.

Another good Fante: West of Rome.

I read through the suggestions and the similar writers fell in to fictional similarities, but no one mentioned any poetry, with the exception of the Beats and Plath, neither of which reflect Bukowski's poetic style.

On the contemporary poetic front, The Complete Poetic Works of Michael Madsen, Vol I: 1995-2005 is the actor doing his version of Bukowski poetics. Raegan Butcher writes his poetry from prison and depression, Phil Volatile does his from the recovering side of alcoholism, while J.A. Carter-Winward does the female poetic version. Those are some of my favorites in the poetic realm.

Chris wrote: "Hey guys. Glad I found this group. I've spent the last few years reading a lot of 'must-read' books, but Bukowski was really the only author who blew me away. I've got an entire shelf of his works,..."

Try "Choke" by Pahlaniuk!

Samantha wrote: "Try "Choke" by Pahlaniuk!"
While I quite enjoyed "Choke," the only thing that is like Bukowski is the tone and counter-culture vibe. Bukowski's work tends more to the personal, rather than the fictional. He was a master at auto-fiction.

For a definition of auto-fiction:


Of course the literary hoi polloi think that Bukowski, not them, are the commoners.

Fante's already been mentioned, so you should know about the Bandini quartet. Try those.

Also, while different in writing style from Bukowski, and pretty much everyone else, Hubert Selby Jr writes about people living at the bottom. Try Last Exit to Brooklyn (one of my favorites) and Requiem for a Dream (another favorite of mine).

I think you should try, the Beat generation/movement authors, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, William S. Burroughs, their writing is similar to Bukowski's.

Hi All, on top of the aforementioned Palahniuk, I' d say, of famous authors at least, Hunter S. Thompson, and maybe Irvine Welsh?

If I may suggest a new author whose book I really enjoyed reading last year, try Accumulation by Buan Boonaca. It' s a book that contains a critique of contemporary society very much in Bukoswki' s style, filled with black humour and spirituality, blended with bleak existentialism and surreal elements. It' s the best book I read last year and I absolutely recommend it to whose who appreciate Bukoswki, Palahniuk, and books that push over genre boundaries.

The Motel Whore & Other Stories

Untethered

Guns of Brixton

J wrote: "I have read nearly every bukowski work as well and I find it difficult to discover properly similar works as he was so unique himself. So, although it's a rather different style and type of literat..."
lol, i never imagined kundera w*/ a bukowski like-style

I don't think Fante writes like Bukowski. He is just as good, but Fante is also in a class of his own. I don't feel there is another author like Bukowski, who took the same risks. He is not a beat writer. Wrong timing. I have a lot of other writes I like, but they range so drastically from Hank, I would not compare them. I do like Thompson. I really like Miranda July. I think she is a great talent, her shorts especially. Hemingway, Steinbeck, Twain, Nabakov, Miller.

I realize this is an old post, but in case anyone is still looking for similar authors, I found Jude Angelini's Hummingbird to be a good read.

Hi Everyone,

Of course John Fante something like Ask The Dust
Quite different in style I found but Buk was influenced by Louis-Ferdinand Céline and I'd recommend Journey to the End of the Night
I just published my debut novel, and while I'm no Bukowski, my publisher did mention it had a Buk vibe when I was offered a deal, which I took as the highest praise. Rainy Day Ramen and the Cosmic Pachinko by Gordon Vanstone