Publisher John Martin formed Black Sparrow Press in order to publish Bukowski’s work, and soon after other writers as well, and offered him $100 a month for life – what Bukowski said he need to live on, including money for child support – if he quit the post office and agreed to write full time. Post Office covers Bukowski’s life from around 1952 through 1955, when he resigned from the post office, to his return in ’58, then to his final resignation in ’69. Soon it takes a turn into the kind of “ Factotum” hell that Charles Bukowski fans know well, as it shows up later throughout his work. The novel begins, “It began as a mistake.” He hears from a fellow drunk that the post office hires carriers during the Christmas season to handle the extra mail load and at first it seems an easy gig. Bukowski’s alter ego, Henry Chinaski, starts as a substitute mail carrier. The autobiographical book covers the years Bukowski spend working in the post office. “Post Office” was Charles Bukowski’s first novel, published by Black Sparrow Press in 1971. If you purchase something through one of these links we will get a commission, which helps us maintain the site, at no extra cost to you.
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