Ph.D. Thesis
Dissertation Director: Prof. Dr. Véronique Béghain
Dissertation Committee: Prof. Dr. Serge Chauvin, Prof. Dr. Cécile Cottenet, Prof. Dr. Brigitte Félix, Prof. Dr. Nicolas Labarre
Defended : December 4, 2021
Abstract:
The thesis discusses the publication of Charles Bukowski, an American author of the second half of the 20th century, in the United States and abroad, notably in France, where he acquired a certain success, thanks to a noticed television appearance. The title "The Construction of Charles Bukowski's Work: The Art of Publication and Mixing Genres," expresses a hypothesis: the author's work was not constructed solely through his writings, but also thanks to his publishers and readers, whether professional or amateur. This research aims to discover how Charles Bukowski created the mythical image that allows him worldwide recognition through other agents (taken in the broad sense) of literature. To understand how a heterogeneous group of people allowed the creation of Bukowski’s work, my thesis focuses on three themes.
First, the publishing of Charles Bukowski's books in the United States and internationally is studied through editorial and auctorial peritexts. We explore Bukowski's publishing, from his correspondence with American independent publishers to the internationalization of his publication, through contracts drawn up with literary agents and publishers. This section also discusses the role of translators in the dissemination of work abroad, particularly in French-speaking countries. The illustrators visually describe the text on the front cover, with more or less success. The illustrations demonstrate the importance of the visuals for Charles Bukowski and the publication of his work.
His image is essential for his promotion, as well as his posture, conceived with the help of photographers as prolific as he was, to the point of generating a mythical image, an iconicity, which continues to flourish in films, before being recreated by other artists and other mediums. We consider that this image, created by Bukowski in his books, and developed outside of them, is also part of his work, being located in its paratext.
A final question is that of his reception, without which Bukowski's work would not be visible today. Charles Bukowski, an "outsider" of literature, succeeded in creating a myth, a faithful readership, and a literary circle. His iconicity develops in the press, the first medium of reception of the work and the author, in the 1970s. Digital technology brings Charles Bukowski back to the forefront, thanks to the action and enthusiasm of his readers, who play a plural role in his publication and promotion. We thus carry out an inventory of the whole of the publication of Charles Bukowski's work and detect in which way the author, despite his presence in the image (through photographs, illustrations, and fictional or documentary films) in the press or other media, is in a certain way withdrawn from the production and diffusion of his works to the benefit of other actors of the literary process, namely the professionals of the edition (publishers, translators, literary agents), the media, and the readers.