Читать книгу On Writing - Charles Bukowski - Страница 6

Editor’s Note

It’s virtually impossible to faithfully reproduce Bukowski’s letters as a large number of them were profusely decorated with drawings and doodles. Similarly, all the 1945–1954 correspondence was handwritten—coincidentally enough, it was Bukowski’s infamous ten-year drunk, when he misleadingly said he didn’t write at all, as if all the handwritten material was forgettable—and it cannot be properly reproduced here. However, some distinctive letters have been reprinted in facsimile so that they can be appreciated as intended by Bukowski.

To further preserve Bukowski’s peculiar letter writing, editorial changes have been kept to a minimum. While Bukowski’s punctuation was quite accurate, his spelling was whimsical at best, and he admitted as much. In this collection, unintended typos have been silently corrected, while deliberate typos have been kept in an attempt to preserve his voice as much as possible. Likewise, salutations and closings, which were largely similar, have been omitted. Bukowski was a prolific correspondent, and his letters were usually long, discussing topics unrelated to the art of writing. Editorial omissions are then represented by [ . . . ]. Editorial notes in the text also appear in brackets. Bukowski used ALL CAPITALS for emphasis, and they have been replaced by italics for book titles and by quotation marks for poem and short-story titles. Dates and titles have been standardized, too. Other than these few editorial changes, these letters appear here as Bukowski wrote them.