Books I Read - Women - Charles Bukowski

“If I had been born a woman, I would certainly have been a whore. Since I had been born a man, I craved women constantly, the lower the better. And yet women—good women—frightened me because they eventually wanted your soul, and what was left of mine, I wanted to keep. Basically I craved prostitutes, base women, because they were deadly and hard and made no personal demands. Nothing was lost when they left. Yet at the same time I yearned for a gentle, good woman, despite the overwhelming price. I lost both ways.”  Charles Bukowski.

Charles Bukowski’s 1978 novel Women is a work that has divided readers and critics and sparked controversy ever since the day it was published. So is this book really a text that degrades women, or is it a cruel mirror of modern relationships? The debate, which has now lasted for almost half a century, is still going on.

Autobiography Or Novel?

When you read Women as your first Bukowski book, one thing immediately stands out: narrator Henry Chinaski lives a life strikingly parallel to Bukowski’s own. This autobiographical approach makes the book feel far more disturbing than a simple piece of fiction.

The novel really does contain passages taken almost directly from the writer’s real life. Most of the women in the book are real people: Lydia Vance is poet and sculptor Linda King; the character Tanya is in reality Amber O’Neil, who wrote a booklet called Blowing My Hero; Liza Williams is Pamela “Cupcakes” Wood, and many others as well. Some of these women even considered suing Bukowski after the book was published.

A Period Under The Name Of “Research”

Bukowski was fifty years old when he started becoming famous in the mid-1970s. After a four-year period of sexual abstinence, his life changed completely with his sudden fame. He explained it like this: “I’m making up for the things I couldn’t live through in my youth” and “I’m doing research for my new novel.”

Bukowski’s style is much harsher than expected, taboo-breaking, and as heavy as a sledgehammer. In this 317-page book, are women being described, or is it really a man’s way of looking at women? Maybe the answer is hidden in the reader.

Between Hedonism And Bohemian Life

Henry Chinaski is someone who was not shown love in childhood and who lived a hard life. He suffered physical and emotional violence from his father and was socially excluded as a young man because of the acne on his face. He could not lose his virginity until the age of 24. With his writing career, he builds a lifestyle of his own:

“I’m an alcoholic who became a writer so I could get up in the afternoon.”

This sentence sums up the entire philosophy of the character. So is this man really doing what he loves? Or is he in search of something? A writer whose life consists of alcohol and women seems not to give even his writing the importance it deserves. He writes while drunk, does not remember what he wrote, and when he comes back to himself, he drinks again.

The Question At The Center Of The Debate: Is This Misogyny?

Academic circles are clear about the book: Yes, this is misogyny. According to Finnish academic Jani Korhonen’s article, Bukowski portrays women in two ways: as sexual objects and as hostile beings. Feminist critic Amanda Cartigiano says this: Bukowski openly writes that he sees women as “aggressive and unfaithful whores.”

In an article published in Electric Literature, a female writer makes this observation: “Chinaski almost never gets consent. He behaves in horribly misogynistic ways toward women, and the routine is so dull that it feels like you’ve read not a 300-page book, but a thousand-page one.”

However, the defense side also has strong arguments. Some readers and critics say that Bukowski is actually hostile toward everyone, not just women, and that he looks at men the same way too. Sean Penn, as Bukowski’s close friend, says this: “It’s the response of a broken man in a broken world.”

Bukowski himself even confessed this to Sean Penn: “When I fight with a woman, I feel pathetic. It’s an inheritance from my father, the same blood runs in us too.”

The Barbet Schroeder Documentary: Violence Recorded By History

In the documentary shot by director Barbet Schroeder in 1984, a drunken Bukowski verbally and physically attacks his wife Linda Lee. He kicks her in front of the camera. These images show that the writer’s behavior in real life was just as problematic as it was in his novel.

Linda Lee tried to soften the incident by blaming alcohol, but the footage is there. This scene is perhaps the most concrete evidence in the Bukowski debate.

The Henry Miller Comparison: The Difference In Literary Ability

Many critics compare Bukowski to Henry Miller and draw conclusions against Bukowski. Miller’s Sexus also describes sexuality openly, but with two important differences: Miller writes without degrading women, and he adds philosophical depth.

One critic says: “Bukowski only tells the character’s sexual adventures, and he does it in a way that is neither interesting nor original. While reading, you swing between pitying the character’s pathetic nature and getting bored with the book.”

Attempting To Break The Cycle

Throughout most of the book, Henry stays trapped in the same cycle: he drinks, writes, meets new people, has sex, vomits, and drinks again. He gives poetry readings, but he never changes. Until he meets Sara.

With Sara, something different awakens in the character for the first time. Is it conscience, or love? A man who was previously not selective, almost nymphomaniacal, and willing to sleep with nearly any woman suddenly tries to attach himself to one woman. But because he is trying to live in old age the things he could not live in youth, he is never able to behave in the “right” way.

According to Wikipedia, “Chinaski gradually realizes that he is no good for women. This latent theme grows and eventually turns into a guilt complex.” Of course, the thing we call “right” is itself only a sketch drawn for us by society. The molds about how one is supposed to behave at a certain age. When Henry does not fit those molds, he can be criticized and seen as strange.

Different Perspectives: Honesty Or Worthlessness?

Positive View: Fragility Beneath The Hard Shell

Some readers appreciate Bukowski’s honesty here. To them, the book is not just a story of “sleeping around.” Because of its realism and bluntness, it may disturb people who carry taboos, but for open-minded readers it contains deeper meanings between the lines.

A Goodreads review says: “Chinaski presents a hard outer shell, but it is a defense mechanism. Deep down there is fragility, loneliness, and a kind of honesty that creates empathy.”

Some readers say they find parts of themselves in this character and realize they are not alone. An even more interesting comment comes from an article published on Medium: “Misogyny is misunderstood self-hatred.” According to the writer, while Bukowski degrades women, he is actually degrading himself.

Negative View: Lack Of Literary Value

On the other hand, there are also those who see the book as a failed copy of Henry Miller’s Sexus. According to this criticism, while Miller describes sexuality naturally and without degrading women, while also adding philosophical depth, Bukowski does nothing more than narrate the character’s sexual adventures.

Does Women Only Tell Women?

This book simply allows us to look at male-female relationships from a different angle. Yes, this is a very narrow perspective, and it does not apply to everyone. You can read it like a utopia, like the story of one person, or like Bukowski’s own experiences.

The book shows the complexity of modern relationships, the emptiness of hedonism, and the contradictions inside a person. To love or to be loved, to be free or to be attached, to appear strong or to accept one’s weaknesses? Henry Chinaski looks for answers to these questions but never finds them.

The Real Message Of The Book

Bukowski himself says this through the mouth of his character:

“A strong man would have given up both. I was not strong. So I kept dealing with women, with the thought of women.”

Maybe this is the real message of the book: the story of being human, of being weak, and of learning to live with that weakness. Is this an excuse? No. Is it an explanation? Maybe. But at least it is honest.

Is This Book Worth Reading?

A difficult question. An article in Daily Campus says this: “Buying and reading Bukowski’s books is not morally wrong, just as it is not wrong to enjoy the work of any artist who was not entirely a good person.”

However, one warning: this book is truly not for everyone. It contains graphic sexuality, alcohol addiction, violence against women, and disturbing content. If you are going to read it, you should read it with a critical eye.

Conclusion: A Complicated Legacy

It is not easy to give a definite judgment on Women. At the same time, the book can be more than one thing: an honest document of an era and a way of life, an example of problematic depictions of women, an effort by a broken person to face his own brokenness, and a meditation on aging, loneliness, and the search for connection.

Perhaps most importantly, this book disturbs us. And perhaps that is the job of some books: to disturb us, to make us think, to make us argue.