![]() As Henry grinds his way through Junior High School, he discovers the manifold pleasures of alcohol and masturbation. As Chinaski progresses through grammar school, the focus of Henry's attention is on sports, violence, and girls. He has only slightly better results in baseball. Football is difficult for him, but he enjoys the violence that comes with it. Henry is not athletic but wants to be and therefore tries hard to improve. ![]() She is, in fact, a victim of her husband's brutality as well. ![]() Chinaski relates that he has an abusive father, and his mother does nothing to stop his father's abuse. As the story progresses the reader follows his life through the school years and into young adulthood. It begins with Chinaski's early memories. The novel focuses on the protagonist, Henry Chinaski, between the years of 19. The story takes place at home, at his different schools, at the doctor's office (for his never-ending acne treatments) and at various other locales around town. Scenes outside of Los Angeles show Chinaski as an intruder, as with an early scene where he and his family are chased out of an orange grove. This type of description does not venerate or idealize the city, a contrast to other so-called "Los Angeles Novels". Bukowski keeps his descriptions of his hometown grounded in reality, paying more attention to the people that make up Los Angeles than to the city itself. Like his previous works, Ham on Rye is set in Los Angeles where the author grew up. Written in Bukowski's characteristically straightforward prose, the novel tells of his coming-of-age in Los Angeles during the Great Depression. Written in the first person, the novel follows Henry Chinaski, Bukowski's thinly veiled alter ego, during his early years. Writing is my way of making other chances.Ham on Rye is a 1982 semi- autobiographical novel by American author and poet Charles Bukowski. I’ve never quite believed that one chance is all I get. “Writing is a performance, like singing an aria or dancing a jig” -Stephen Greenblatt “All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.” -F. “Good writing is always about things that are important to you, things that are scary to you, things that eat you up.” -John Edgar Wideman “In certain ways writing is a form of prayer.” -Denise Levertov ![]() “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” -E.L. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” -E.L. “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. “Let’s face it, writing is hell.” -William Styron “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” -Thomas Mann ![]() “Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.” -Paul Rudnick Writing is not only useless, it’s spoiled paper.” -Padget Powell “Writing is very hard work and knowing what you’re doing the whole time.” -Shelby Foote You can’t stop it.” -William Carlos Williams One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one’s luck.” -Iris Murdoch “The less conscious one is of being ‘a writer,’ the better the writing.” -Pico Iyer “Writing is…that oddest of anomalies: an intimate letter to a stranger.” -Pico Iyer “Writing is a combination of intangible creative fantasy and appallingly hard work.” -Anthony Powell “I think writing is, by definition, an optimistic act.” -Michael Cunningham Nothing the writer can do is ever enough” -Joy Williams “Writers end up writing stories-or rather, stories’ shadows-and they’re grateful if they can, but it is not enough. ![]()
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