Drank himself to death...

[pope_VI]

few years ago in school my one teacher told us this story of a poet and i now have the opportunity to write an essay that i think he'd fit the topic but i can''t remember his name and cant get ahold of the teacher, the guy loved to drink and one day his doctor told him that his next drink could be his last, he then proceeded to walk to the nearest bar and take 13 shots of whiskey, he walked out of the bar and collapsed in the street....anyone know who i'm talking about?

[Riesa]

You must be thinking of Dylan Thomas and the White Horse Tavern in NY.

more about Dylan Thomas (http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/dylanthomas/biography/pages/death.shtml)

[pope_VI]

now that you mention it we were reading "Do not go...night" around tht time and the stories are quite similar thanks

[The Unnamable]

It was Charles Bukowski, not Dylan Thomas.

[Riesa]

oh. :blush:

[Virgil]

I'm not sure either is correct. I keep getting sites which state that Bukowski died of leukemia. Here's one:


Bukowski died of leukemia on March 9, 1994 in Los Angeles. The actor and director Sean Penn dedicated his film The Crossing Guard (1995) to Bukowski.
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/bukowski.htm

[The Unnamable]

oh. :blush:
Sorry, I didn’t mean this to sound so curt – I was in a hurry as my boss was on the prowl. You might be confusing Bukowski with Thomas because of the latter’s supposed last words:

“I've had eighteen straight whiskies, I think that's the record . . .”

As for Bukowski:

“In 1960, he was rushed to the hospital with a stomach haemorrhage. Doctors told him if he didn't quit drinking he'd be dead in a month. Bukowski checked himself out of the hospital and, on the way home, stopped at a liquor store for a fifth and a six-pack of beer. He died from leukaemia in San Pedro, 34 years later.”

Come on, moral purists – insert the appropriate condemnation.

[Basil]

It's not Bukowski although I think his story, "All the *******s in the World and Mine," sort of follows this plotline.

*edit* Okay, maybe not that story. One of them, though....

[Basil]

Okay, the story is "Life and Death in the Charity Ward." In my defense, the plot is nearly identical to the story I mentioned above. Here's a passage from the end of the story:

I stopped ****ting blood and I was given a list of what to eat and I was told that the first drink would kill me. They had also told me that I would die without an operation. I had had a terrible argument with a female Japanese doctor about operation and death. I had said "No operation" and she had walked out, shaking her *** at me in anger. Harry was still alive when I left, nursing his cigarettes. I walked along in the sunlight to see how it felt. It felt all right. The traffic went by. The sidewalk was as sidewalks had always been. I was wondering whether to take a bus in or try to phone somebody to come and get me. I walked into this place to phone. I sat down first and had a smoke.
The bartender walked up and I ordered a bottle of beer.
"What's new?" he asked.
"Nothing much," I said. He walked off. I poured the beer into a glass, then I looked at the glass a while and then I emptied half of it. Somebody put a coin in the juke box and we had some music. life looked a little better. I finished that glass, poured another and wondered if my pecker would ever stand up again. I looked around the bar: no women. I did the next best thing: I picked up the glass and drained it.

[The Unnamable]

“The lady protests too much, methinks.”

Take your pick, ladies and gentleman. I watched a documentary about Bukowski in which the story I have posted was mentioned. Also, one of my tutors at university told me many stories about Bukowski (including this one). My tutor was Dr. David Bradshaw – at Worcester College Oxford if you want to pester him instead of believing me.

I’m not saying that Bukowski collapsed; I simply assumed that this part of the thread starter’s comment was the result of partially remembering the story.

[Basil]

Oh, I wasn't trying to prove or disprove anything. I posted the story passage because I thought people might find it interesting and it seemed germane to the topic at hand.

[The Unnamable]

That is the most magnanimous gesture I’ve encountered in a very long time. People tell me that I waste my time on this forum. Where else would I find such nobility of soul? My coronary cockles are well and truly warmed.

[Riesa]

Sorry, I didn’t mean this to sound so curt – I was in a hurry as my boss was on the prowl.


Thanks, I appreciate the apology. I found that rather magnanimous of you.

[Scheherazade]

People tell me that I waste my time on this forum. You are surely not hanging out with the 'right' crowd!
My coronary cockles are well and truly warmed.Does that imply that you actually have a heart and it is functioning???

:p

[blp]

This thread reads rather confusingly. It's about a guy who drank himself to death. We get all the info about how Dylan Thomas drank himself to death and the only discrepancy seems to be the number of shots of whiskey and we hear from you, U, that Bukowski also drank a lot against the advice of his doctors, but didn't die of it, but then it appears, U, that you're still suggesting it was Bukowski that the original anecdote referred to? Eh?

[Basil]

That is the most magnanimous gesture I’ve encountered in a very long time. People tell me that I waste my time on this forum. Where else would I find such nobility of soul? My coronary cockles are well and truly warmed.
Hey, don't mention it! :)

[Basil]

Wait, was he being sarcastic?

[The Unnamable]

This thread reads rather confusingly. It's about a guy who drank himself to death. We get all the info about how Dylan Thomas drank himself to death and the only discrepancy seems to be the number of shots of whiskey and we hear from you, U, that Bukowski also drank a lot against the advice of his doctors, but didn't die of it, but then it appears, U, that you're still suggesting it was Bukowski that the original anecdote referred to? Eh?
As I said above, I assumed that the story as outlined by the thread starter had been only partially remembered or conflated. I assumed the extra bit (he collapsed in the street) was either a sensationalist filling in of gaps or confusion with Thomas.
The bit that I believe refers to Bukowski is the part about the doctor warning him and Bukowski’s subsequent and immediate ignoring of that warning. My tutor told me the story but it is on record.

[blp]

I guess I see. Still, the large number of whiskies, the fact that it was NY and that the subject died. I have to say, I think it probably was Bob Dylan. I mean DM Thomas. I mean...

[tn2743]

It's killing me,

Pope VI who was it? Please

[pope_VI]

it has to be dylan thomas, cause i never heard of the other guy, pretty good reason right?