Hollywood

Description

'What will you do?' 'Oh, hell, I'll write a novel about writing the screenplay and making the movie.' 'What are you going to call it?' 'Hollywood.' 'Hollywood?' 'Yes . . .' Poetic, sharp and dangerous, Hollywood - Bukowski's fictionalisation of his experiences making the film Barfly - explores the many dark shadows to be found in the neon-soaked glare of Hollywood's limelight.

Charles Bukowski was the legendary Californian writer who became famous for his semi-autobiographical books about low-life America. Novels such as Factotum and Post Office made this one-time bum, and lifelong alcoholic, rich and famous, and culminated in the making of Barfly, a major Hollywood movie based on his life starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. He died in March 1994.

No other book gets as close to the corrupt heart of American movie-making * * Guardian * * A literary immortal * * Time * * Bukowski's voice is insistent and affirming but it also has the humble durability of someone who won't stay down . . . His stories help keep people alive * * Independent * * A laureate of American low life * * Time * * Full of entertaining vignettes of celebrities * * The Times * *