On Writing
Charles Bukowski
The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way
Charles Bukowski
The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way
The other book about writing: stories, essays, interviews and introductions, edited by the scholar who recovered his uncollected prose.
- 2018
About Charles Bukowski
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeThe Mathematics of the Breath and the Way, published by City Lights in 2018, gathers Charles Bukowski's writing about writing from everywhere except his letters. David Stephen Calonne — who had already assembled the two volumes of uncollected prose — drew on short stories, essays, interviews and the introductions Bukowski wrote for other people's books. Across 250 pages it produces a fuller picture than the letters alone: Bukowski explaining himself to interviewers, praising writers he admired in print, and turning the subject of writing into fiction. It is the companion to Ecco's On Writing rather than a competitor, and the two have different editors and different material.
The story, in more detail
Bukowski wrote introductions for other writers, gave interviews for thirty years, and put writers and writing into his stories. Calonne's gathering shows a man who thought about the craft constantly and in public, which sits oddly against the reputation for indifference. The introductions are the most surprising part. Praising another writer in print gave him nothing to defend, and he wrote those pieces without the pose.
Why we recommend it
The subject from every angle but letters
Stories, essays, interviews and introductions — the material Ecco's letters volume by definition could not hold.
Bukowski without a pose
The introductions he wrote for other writers' books are among the few places he had nothing to defend.
What this book explores
Timeline
1960s–1993
The span of the interviews, essays and introductions the volume draws on.
2015
Ecco publishes On Writing, the letters volume.
2018
City Lights publishes Calonne's gathering of everything else.
Book editions
- Paperback
- City Lights
- 2018
- 9780872867598
- Paperback
- Canongate
- 2018
- 9781786894434
Reader reviews
Readers may also like
More Notes of a Dirty Old Man
The City Lights gathering of uncollected columns, from the same recovery effort.
Read our take
Notes of a Dirty Old Man
The column book whose prose these essays and interviews sit alongside.
Read our takeThe Mathematics of the Breath and the Way: frequently asked questions
What is The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way?
A 2018 City Lights collection of Charles Bukowski's writing about writing, drawn from short stories, essays, interviews and introductions, and edited by David Stephen Calonne.
How is it different from On Writing?
On Writing (Ecco, 2015) is letters only, edited by Abel Debritto. This one takes the same subject from everything except letters, and has a different editor.
Who edited it?
David Stephen Calonne, who also edited Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook and Absence of the Hero, and wrote a critical biography of Bukowski.
Why does the British edition have a different subtitle?
City Lights published it as On Writers and Writing; Canongate sells it in Britain as The Writing Life. The contents are identical.
Does it include his opinions of other writers?
Yes — including introductions he wrote for other people's books, which are among the least guarded things he published.
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References
References
The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way, its publication, and its place in literary history.
1The Mathematics of the Breath and the Way
EssaysCharles Bukowski, 2018Used forThe primary text represented by this page, used for descriptions of the work’s contents and for any quoted passages shown here.
2Charles Bukowski
BiographyReaktion Books, 2012Used forThe editor's critical biography and his account of Bukowski's reading.
3Charles Bukowski timeline (bukowski.net)
WebsiteUsed forPublication year, editions and editor.
4Charles Bukowski (Poetry Foundation)
WebsiteUsed forCareer context for the interviews and introductions.
5Charles Bukowski: books and chapbooks (Verdant Press checklist)
WebsiteUsed forBibliographic details checked against the checklist.
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Why these sources are here
The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.
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