Charles Bukowski Outsider Literature and the Beat Movement

<p>This book uses cultural and psycho-social analysis to examine the beat writer Charles Bukowski and his literature focusing on representations of the anti-hero rebel and outsider. Clements considers the complexities ambiguities and contradictions represented by the author and his work exploring Bukowski's visceral writing of the cultural ordinary and everyday self-narrative. The study considers Bukowski's apolitical gendered and working-class stance to understand how the writer represents reality and is represented with regards to counter-cultural literature. In addition Clements provides a broader socio-cultural focus that evaluates counterculture in relation to the American beat movement and mythology highlighting the male cool anti-hero. The cultural practices and discourses utilized to situate Bukowski include the individual and society outsiderdom cult celebrity fan embodiment and disneyfication providing a greater understanding of the beat generation and counterculture literature.</p>