This is the first novel by Charles Bukowski that I have read. That being said I had to do a lot of research in order to understand his writing style and approach to life in general. Originally, I wanted to classify his writing as postmodern because it follows the same patterns as other postmodern works that I have read written by Nietzche, Faulkner, and Hemingway. However, Bukowski himself scoffed at the labels people placed on him and would not want to be classified as a part of any specific literary movement.  Post Office falls into a type of life writing and stream of consciousness style that many authors try to emulate. Bukowski argued that his was the real deal because he wasn’t working to be a writer he simply was one without trying. One commentary that I found insightful to understanding Bukowski’s distaste for his contemporaries is from Kyle Ryan, a contributor on a forum site. He argues that, “Raymond Carver and Jack Kerouac, tended to appeal to males who are very into the idea of being writers—and the binge drinking they apparently consider a prerequisite for the lifestyle. These are guys who’d scoff at the “tortured artist” archetype for being pretentious and overly intellectual, only to embody it on more ostensibly blue-collar terms. They’d wear hangovers like badges of honor and mistake misogyny for musedom” (AV Club).

After trying to gain a better understanding of Bukowski’s writing style I used two lens’ to analyze Post Office. Feminism and Queer Studies

Through a Feminist Lens

There are differing opinions as to whether or not Bukowski’s works label him a misogynist.  Personally, after reading about him more I think he was just an asshole (truly for lack of a better term). In Post Office, Chinaski treats most of the women in his life pretty badly; however, he treats EVERYONE in his life pretty badly. There are no passages in this story that imply that women are inferior to men in any way. He does describe women in unsavory ways, often implementing gender normative stereotypes. He also portrays men as unsavory, despaired, sadistic, and cowardly. These stereotypes provide a lens into his “realist” perspective. In the end he mistreated everyone equally including himself.

Through a Queer Studies Lens

 Post Office can be read through a queer studies lens because the novel itself does not follow a hetero-narrative structure. Similar to the Love and Rockets graphic novels discussed in class, the characters in Post Office are portrayed realistically with real world baggage. The structure of the novel also does not follow tradition as it is split into six parts of unequal sizes. The chapters are also snippets of scenes that are hard to follow in terms of time. Bukowski does not focus on time and place so much as people.

Chinaski hates his supervisor and therefore hates the post office building.

Chinaski loves the racetrack and therefore loves gambling and the women he meets there.

Etc… etc…

In the end, the boundary between Chinaski and Bukowski is virtually non-existent. Through Chinaski, Bukowski was able to portray his lifestyle in a semi-relatable way that sets himself up to be what Nietzche would call an Ubermensch: the ideal superior man of the future who could rise above conventional Christian morality to create and impose his own values.

Whether Bukowski actually was one or could be one is still up for debate.