Charles Bukowski was born in Andernach, Germany on 16 August 1920. His father, Henry Charles Bukowski, was an American serviceman who had remained in Germany after the First World War, while his mother, Katharina Fett, was a local seamstress. Before Bukowski junior’s third birthday the family moved to the United States, where his father attempted to achieve the social ideal of the American Dream. Failure to do so exacerbated his already tyrannical behaviour towards his wife and child, and much of Bukowski’s work reflects an abiding resentment towards his parents that he never ultimately overcame.

Violence and intimidation by his father, whose efforts to rise above the family’s lower-middle-class suburban environment were repe

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First published 02 May 2005

Citation: Blohm, Gary. "Charles Bukowski". The Literary Encyclopedia. 2 May 2005.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=633, accessed 20 November 2009.]