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September 2, 2008
E-mail a friendYOUNG VOICES
Was Charles Bukowski a Nazi?
And if so, is that a good enough reason to demolish his house? These questions have come to the fore this month, in the battle over the East Hollywood bungalow where the beat poet wrote some of his most famous works. While no one is suggesting that Bukowski goose-stepped to Wagner in his living room, it has been suggested by many that he sympathized with certain aspects of the Nazi rationale, and admired all things German, including Hitler. This, some insist, is reason enough to condemn both him and the house where he used to live.
On one side of the flap is a property owner who wants to sell the land to make way for a condo development. On the other is a small but vocal group of preservationists and bibliophiles, who want to save the site as an historic landmark. So was Bukowski a Nazi or wasn't he? The owner of the house, who is Jewish, says yes, as does the author of a controversial biography of the writer. Bukowski's widow, on the other hand, fervently denies this, as does his publisher.
Several other questions have surfaced as a result of this debate, among them the ongoing distaste the City of Los Angeles shows for its historic, if sometimes gritty, landmarks. The question that seems most important, though, is how brilliant people, who were not necessarily that nice, should be remembered. Bukowski, by most accounts, was not what you'd call a "nice" man. He was an alcoholic, a womanizer, and generally a pretty filthy human being. In this, however, particularly among famous writers, he is not alone.
History is full of creative geniuses of one sort or another who had all kinds of crazy political views, and were absolutely horrible to the people around them. Roald Dahl, for one, the beloved author of classic children's books like Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, was an unapologetic anti-Semite, according to his biography. Ezra Pound, the revered British modernist poet, was a committed fascist, as well as an anti-Semite himself. Both of these writers' work remains popular, despite their unpopular views. Pound is admired as a father of modernism, and Dahl has a day in September dedicated to him in the U.K.
Condoning anything about Nazism is ridiculous, not to mention disrespectful to the memories of the millions who were murdered by its practitioners, and for that Bukowski, and anyone else who shares his sympathies, should be made to answer. But this does not negate his enormous contribution to American literature. Whatever his personal political leanings were, they should not stand in the way of the preservation of his legacy.
Yesterday the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission recommended landmarking the site, but with several more hearings still to come, its preservation is still by no means assured.