"The Japanese Wife" by Charles Bukowski (poetry reading)

[uspsionic]

I initially heard the first few lines on hell and malfunction by ime and am happy to have got to hear the rest of the poem. Thanks for posting it!

[troupesvirtues]

this moved me quite a bit

it's the first time

anyone thought to read

charles to me

[player1vladimir]

Not only american woman are like that

this type of so called japanese woman is dying out.....

woman don't have honour anymore.......

[machidaboy]

@player1vladimir I think Bukowski is using the negative stereotype of the American woman as a device, as false logic from the point of view of the narrator. I don't think Bukowski is necessarily making any real statement about American or Japanese women. The emphasis is on the love that he has for his "Japanese wife," who has character flaws herself. The narrator seems to overlook these flaws, such as the Japanese wife's attacking him with a knife, because he loves her.

[player1vladimir]

@machidaboy Well i think the American woman is the material girl. Most of girls are like that especially the one from America and since the trend started in the USA, material girls could be called American women. Japan is all about tradition so a Japanese wife would be a girl who knows her place in the family.

[machidaboy]

@player1vladimir To say that the "American woman is the material girl" is a stereotype, as well as the statement about Japanese women "knowing their place." Neither of these statements are inherently true, and Bukowski does not reinforce them. The reference to the Japanese woman attacking the narrator with a knife supports my theory. A violent wife does not fit within the stereotype of the "dutiful" Japanese wife. Bukowski is making a larger statement about humanity through these stereotypes.

[player1vladimir]

@machidaboy Every stereotype has some truth in it. Its not a secret that USA is a materialistic society. Most girls care more about a guy's bank account than about him.

[machidaboy]

@player1vladimir Do you really believe that "most girls" care more about a guy's bank account than about him? I am sorry that you haven't met enough girls that are to the contrary. I have met many caring and sincere females in the United States and in other countries.

[player1vladimir]

@machidaboy most girls are like that as long as they have some interest from you they are with you.

[mevergaesgrande]

cool. I had no idea this was a poem. In the song " hell and Malfunction" by I mother earth, the beginning of this poem is read at the intro.

[blurry228]

one of the best

[jmsimpson11]

love bukowski and this poem