Beerspit Night and Cursing: Advanced Review Copy

Published by Black Sparrow Press in 2001, this is an Advanced Review Copy of Beerspit Night and Cursing: The Correspondence of Charles Bukowski and Sheri Martinelli, 1960-1967.

It has a comb binding with a clear plastic sheet over the title page and a vinyl rear cover. There is also a review slip tipped in.

The top clip is secure, but the tip broke off at some point. There is some sticker residue on the vinyl rear cover and there is some edge wear to the pages. I’d rate it Near Fine-minus.

I have never seen another copy.

There are some great reasons to purchase this book. First, there are not a lot of Bukowski letters prior to 1963, so reading the earlier letters is enlightening about what Bukowski is thinking and doing at the time. Second, editor Steven Moore insisted that the book contain the full letters, not just portions like the earlier books of letters edited by Seamus Cooney. (That’s not a put down of the earlier Black Sparrow Press Letters – full letters probably would have taken up 30 volumes instead of three.). Third, you also get to read some of Martinelli’s letters that Bukowski is responding to (he apparently threw away most)

The downside: Perhaps as an attempt to flirt his way into getting published by her or her someone in her famous circles, Bukowski mimics Martinelli’s Beat-like slang and spelling. The result is truly annoying – especially from a man who was capable of writing letters as engaging as his long poems or short stories.

Having said that, there is enough substance here to get past Bukowski’s bullshit.

Martinelli was a protege of Anais Nin, an accomplished painter and the mistress of Ezra Pound. Martinelli also claimed she slept with Pound, something Bukowski seemed obsessed with, and questioned whether she knew Pound at all in letters to others. Martinelli’s letters read like a prima donna. She’s insulting to Bukowski and claims to know what true art and literature are, and it’s not Bukowski. Yet, Bukowski keeps coming back for more, hoping she’ll come to view him as Knut Hamsun, I guess. Personally, it’s clear to me that Martinelli had serious self-esteem issues.

Shelf 3