Ham on Rye | Charles Bukowski

episode SUMMARY:

In this episode of the Books for Men podcast, Douglas Vigliotti discusses the book Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski. Vigliotti acknowledges that Bukowski's work may be controversial and not for everyone, but he appreciates the honesty and truthfulness in his writing. Vigliotti also highlights Bukowski's career as a writer and his journey to success. He describes Ham on Rye as a semi-autobiographical novel that captures the protagonist's lonely childhood, adolescence, and discovery of women and alcohol during the Great Depression in Los Angeles. Vigliotti praises the simplicity and wit of Bukowski's prose and recommends reading the book. He ends the episode by sharing a quote from Bukowski about the importance of fully committing to one's endeavors, then encourages listeners to share the podcast, visit the website for more information and resources, and/or connect with him on Instagram @douglasvigliotti.

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Welcome back to Books for Men, a podcast to inspire more men to read and bring together men who do. So this week we are switching back to fiction and just like the book last week, it's sort of been a long time coming. It's surprising that I've waited so long to feature Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski. And actually what queued me to share it was that I made mention of it during the episode I did on The Killing Hills by Chris Offutt. While those books couldn't be more different than each other, the one thing that they do have in common is something that I will hit on a little bit later, and that is just, amazing, chapter endings, something that really carries the book along. And this book has probably some of the better endings to chapters and sections of any book that I've ever read.

(01:00)

And of course, I don't mean cliffhangers or actually alluding to or pushing you forward at all into the next chapter, but more so tying a bow on everything that you just read in a very subtle way. Maybe it's just one line or something of that nature, but it really hinges on this emotional cohesiveness for lack of a better term. So before I go any further, I should just mention that I'm totally aware that Bukowski is likely to ruffle a few feathers. And I know he's not going to have tons of fans out there in some respects because of the type of work that he has written over the course of his career. It could be crude, it could be bleak, it could be dirty, and it's a depiction of, I'd say probably one of the more unflattering aspects of the male mind. But that honesty and that truth in the prose and in his work and the simplicity of it really speaks to a lot of male readers and has, and this is why even though some of the ideas and the tone and the actions and the things that happen inside of the stories haven't held up well because the culture of today doesn't look kindly upon some of the things that he writes about.

(02:25)

I do believe that if you dive a little bit deeper into not just his work, but his career and his life as a whole, then the way that he writes and the things that he writes about start to make a little bit more sense in why and how he's coming from the perspective that he is coming from. Additionally, I do believe that when you read something that might be off-put or if you hear somebody say something that might be off-putting, it's worth it to consider that they might have other things that you agree with or that you think are cool or interesting or believable, but you might not like that one thing. And I think we've grown accustomed to in the culture that we live in, to this idea that everything about people needs to be perfect in order to like that person. And this couldn't be further from the truth.

(03:24)

It even sounds crazy when I say it out loud, but think about how many people you cancel because you don't like one thing they said or one thing they think without knowing anything else about that individual. And I think you'd be surprised that you probably do it more than you're willing to admit. I mean, I have to check myself just as much with this as anybody does. But as I just mentioned, I think it's really worth considering that just because you don't agree with one thing, you might really appreciate this person for another thing. Because at the end of the day, we can't be everything all the time. We are what we are. And this is why I love Bukowski, because he knows what he is and he just is that thing. And to me, there's nothing more attractive in an individual whether you like the person or you don't in conviction in who you are.

(04:19)

And to me, Bukowski is a real writer's writer. There's really no other way to describe it. I mean, he worked for years with no applause. His big break didn't come until he was in his fifties. He worked at the post office and moonlighted as a poet for 20 years. And of course, Post Office is another one of his novels similar to this one in that it's semi-autobiographical and featuring the same main character. But I'll get into that in a minute. I mean, all of Bukowski's novels might not even come to light or to the public if it wasn't for a publisher named John Martin who basically started Black Sparrow Press to publish Bukowski's books. Bukowski's story really is the epitome of the underdog, or maybe I should just say a true outsider's outsider, not even part of the beat movement, which was around a similar time.

(05:15)

He was really on the outside of that, even if it's even possible, just this old man basically typing away at his typewriter. And of course, I'm laughing a little bit here because Bukowski had a column in a local underground LA paper in the late sixties called Open City titled Notes of a Dirty Old Man. And of course, that's exactly what it is. Actually, when I was in Paris, I picked up a Charles Bukowski story collection called The Bell Tolls for No One, and the editor who put it together, his name is David Calonne. He's done a bunch of other Bukowski collections. And in the introduction of the one that I picked up, I think he really writes about the man Charles Bukowski in a really concise but telling way. That character arc that I alluded to that provides a real backbone for understanding the perspective that he's coming at life from Calonne says “The basic structure of his life is mythic, a variation on the hero's journey, the genius as a hero; his abandoned childhood, primal wounding by his father, and his skin disfiguration, his wanderings in the wilderness, his near-death by alcoholism in 1954, and then his resurrection.”

(06:41)

So I've gone on long enough and I haven't told you what Ham on Rye is actually about. I will say that Bukowski is known as more of a poet than he is a novelist. But to me, this is far and away his best. And it is, as I already mentioned, a semi-autobiographical novel. All of them are pretty much, and they feature the protagonist aptly named Henry Chinaski. But the reason why I love this book, even more than any of the others, is not only do I think technically the writing is just better, at least in my humble opinion, but it gives you the early version of Henry Chinaski. So the lonely Childhood, the acne-covered adolescence, and his discovery of women and alcohol through gritty LA American life during the time of the Great Depression. And this of course is supposed to mirror Bukowski's life. To me, there's just something really special about this novel in a completely bittersweet way.

(07:43)

But it's not just the content or the storyline, it's the deftness and simplicity of the prose. The wit of it is unmistakable and you want to laugh and cry at the same time. It really captures the angst and the sadness and the ignorance and the heroes of growing up a young boy. But it also is funny in a way, and it's humorous in true Bukowski fashion. I mean, anybody who reads this book and doesn't feel for the main character really doesn't have a heart beating in their chest. But at the same time, the things he thinks and says will sometimes leave you shaking your head. But it does set the stage for reading future Charles Bukowski novels and in my eyes, helps to inform his work as a whole. So there's a line that I pulled from the novel that I think really captures that style that I was indicating just moments ago.

(08:46)

And so every day after school, Chinaski would walk home, and he'd hear his friend David playing the violin from his house. But this is the same friend who he'd watched getting beaten up a bunch and yelled at by his mother and all these different things. And so one day when he's walking home, he says or thinks this, “That afternoon after school, I quickly left class and walked home alone without David. I didn't want to watch him beaten again by our classmates or by his mother. I didn't want to listen to his sad violin. But the next day at lunchtime when he sat down next to me, I ate his potato chips.” And to me, that just captures what youth is all about. It's like I don't have the backbone to stand up to all of this sadness and negativity, but I'm still going to eat your potato chips.

(09:36)

I don't have much more to share about the book. I think you have a pretty clear picture of Bukowski and the story. Maybe you don't, but I would recommend reading it. It is definitely worth it. I love this book. It's a book that will always be on my bookshelf for many, many reasons. Perhaps there's no better advocate for the writer than Charles Bukowski or the artist in general. He has an amazing amount of tweetable or X-able or threads-able, whatever we're doing these days, quotes, maybe nobody has more than he does. And I will definitely be sharing a ton of those in the newsletter this month. But I wanted to end with this one excerpt that always touches me every time I read it.

(10:26)

He writes, “If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean depression. It could mean mockery-isolation. Isolation is a gift. All the others are a test of your endurance of how much you really want to do it. And you'll do it despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.”

(11:10)

And on that note, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, please remember to share it with friends, family members, and other people who you think might like it. Word of mouth is everything when spreading awareness and this podcast specifically, aims to inspire more men to read. And if you want to double down on that support you can by rating, liking, following, subscribing, all of that good stuff, any of that good stuff on whatever podcast platform you are listening to this on. And lastly, for more information, you could always visit BooksforMen.org where you can get full transcripts for every episode, as well as sign up for the newsletter, which is a monthly roundup of every episode complete with full book and author information, all the best quotes. There will be a ton of Bukowski quotes in the newsletter this month, as well as newsletter-only book recommendations. So again, if you're interested in that, just head over to BooksforMen.org.