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W A L 3 3 (1 ) SPRING 1 9 9 8 systems theory, American Indian concepts, and her own experiences as a powder skier to help readers understand the concepts Lawrence tried to articulate in the 1920s. This wide-ranging, ecocritical approach leads to compelling insights into Lawrence’s life and work. It leads, for example, to a revision of commonly held ideas about Lawrence’s relationship with his father as well as to an explanation for why Lawrence often wrote out­ side under a tree. Given LaChapelle’s broad critical approach, it is perhaps not surpris­ ing that D. H. Lawrence: Future Primitive is not a tightly constructed book. Transitions are often rough, and the focus of individual chapters is obscured at points by interesting but, finally, tangential details. Nevertheless, LaChapelle’s study of Lawrence is a rewarding one that awakens its readers to the richness and complexity of the Future Primitive. Charles Bukowski: A Sure Bet. By Gerald Locklin. Sudbury, Massachusetts: Water Row, 1996. 72 pages, $25.00. Reviewed by Mark Sanders College of the Mainland Considering the title of Locklin’s tribute to Charles Bukowski, one might expect more from the “sure bet” than Locklin provides. Not a seri­ ous study of Bukowski’s writing, so much of the book’s seventy-two pages is wasted space: ten pages are dedicated to Locklin’s poems about Bukowski, in a style that emulates Bukowski’s but does not equal it; furthermore, seven more pages are absolutely blank. Of the fifty-three pages remaining, nothing very substantial reveals Bukowski’s character or his craft. The most interesting piece is the opening essay, “Meeting Charles Bukowski,” as it explores not just Locklin’s first encounter with the poet but also, if briefly, the milieu of the Beats, the Long Beach academia juxta­ posed to the anti-intellectualism that Bukowski’s work embraces in its pro­ letarian extreme. Here, Locklin most reasonably compares Bukowski to the more legendary Kerouac. Furthermore, Locklin appropriately summarizes Bukowski’s personal excesses as booze, women, flophouses, and horses, pro­ viding documented witness to the bulk of corroborating evidence in Bukowski’s work. Locklin’s book would benefit from more sections such as this; perhaps only “The Funeral of Charles Bukowski” comes close. Too much of the book, however, is filler. Such is “How to Get Along with Charles Bukowski,” which lists thirteen warnings, among them: never call Bukowski on the phone, don’t dance with his woman, and don’t push your luck by writing “how to get along with Charles Bukowski.” If this is BO O K REVIEW S satire or if it tries to capture a Bukowski enigma, it succeeds at neither. Rather, Bukowski seems a crank, not the “sure bet”; he seems difficult, as bartenders, bullies, truck drivers, people like us, may be. He does not, how­ ever, seem an important eccentric. And what does offending Bukowski matter, now that he is dead? Additionally, in the long “In the Presence of Greatness: The Bukowski/Barfly Narrative,” we are never quite certain of the greatness. Locklin knew the man as well as nearly anyone, knew his excesses, his penchant for booze and horses, the proclivity toward writing too much and sometimes too poorly. Yet he knew, as Bukowski did, that greatness might surface in the midst of all that productivity. However, Locklin never really explores the greatness. Whether Bukowski remains a permanent part of the canon is, at best, speculative when we are more apt to recall Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, among other of Bukowski’s contemporaries. Even so, Bukowski deserves a more serious, searching study. Currently, the most useful sources on Bukowski remain written by Bukowski and can be found in any of his nov­ els, collections of stories, and volumes of poetry. Perhaps, though, it is most fitting we remember a writer for his own words rather than what someone else says. There, alone, is the “sure bet.” Mark Medoff. By Rudolf Erben. Boise: Western Writers Series #117, 1995. 55 pages, $3.95. Thomas and Elizabeth Savage. By Sue Hart. Boise: Western Writers Series #119, 1995. 50 pages, $3.95. Theodore Strong Van Dyke. By Peter Wild. Boise: Western Writers Series #121, 1995...

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