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What type was Charles Bukowski?
- Thread starter Speed Gavroche
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Speed Gavroche
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I think the Buk was ESFP: very similar to Hemingway, but with far more emotional emphasis. He was not a T, he did not care about logic. He was not NF either since he was not idealistic at all, very realistic and concrete and not abstract in his writing. If you look at this, his books are above all about sensory things like fucking, rumbling, drinking, etc, finding some abstract pattern being a secondary thing. And like in Hemingway, there's no symbolism at all.
No he could be ISFP, but I think he did not repress Te, but have puerile, then tertiary, Te. He was a loner extrovert because of his youth as an outcast, not necessarly a I. He was energetic, wery warm and cheerful and fun to be around according to people who met him.
I think the Buk was ESFP: very similar to Hemingway, but with far more emotional emphasis. He was not a T, he did not care about logic. He was not NF either since he was not idealistic at all, very realistic and concrete and not abstract in his writing. If you look at this, his books are above all about sensory things like fucking, rumbling, drinking, etc, finding some abstract pattern being a secondary thing. And like in Hemingway, there's no symbolism at all.
No he could be ISFP, but I think he did not repress Te, but have puerile, then tertiary, Te. He was a loner extrovert because of his youth as an outcast, not necessarly a I. He was energetic, wery warm and cheerful and fun to be around according to people who met him.
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Stansmith
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ESxP 8? I'm reading one of his books at the moment and most of the writing so far seems to be made up of blunt sensory impressions.
Hive
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If I remember correctly, he had a very sensitive soul protected by a tough facade. He liked the idea of being a hardass, but was really just trying to prove to both himself and others that he wasn't a sissy.
I can skim through Ham on Rye again to refresh my memory, but my guess is xSFP 6w5 sx/sp.
Kingu Kurimuzon
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Stansmith
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Ah, okay. If his alter ego in Factotum is anything to go off of, he seems to focus more on action without much reflection, which makes ESFP more likely.
Hive
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Have you watched any interviews with him?
He's just so... languid, all the time. He moves and speaks like a sloth. Very low key. In manners and presentation, he doesn't come off as Se dom at all, let alone a sx dom one.
Then again, I haven't read many of his books and my knowledge of him is limited at best.
Kingu Kurimuzon
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I don't know, looking back on Women, dominant Ti just seems to be a good fit. He was likely Se aux. Plus, I used to write poetry and his poetry was closer to my style than any other poet I've read...I wasn't trying to emulate him either...my sister told me my poems reminded me of his writing so that's why I started reading his work.
CB
Or INFJ. Hes definitely the old army jacket kind of guy. I wonder what Tom Waits type is. He seems similar.
Haven't visited an INFP forum ever, huh?
Dejected idealism is very gloomy & cynical....
I resist typing him INFP only because it seems like a "claiming someone as my own type" trap, but I can't see him as an extrovert....and not a Ne-dom. I actually find ENTPs far more positive than INFPs, for example. I could buy INTP then, but I think IxxP, and I also lean towards Fi for him.
Or INFJ. Hes definitely the old army jacket kind of guy. I wonder what Tom Waits type is. He seems similar.
Charles Bukowski MBTI personality type? - Personality Website
1. INTP
2. INFP
3. ISFP
4. ENTP
5. INTJ
6. Any other type
Some voting site says ISFP but that's just popular opinion. Not easy typing a depressed alcoholic.
1. INTP
2. INFP
3. ISFP
4. ENTP
5. INTJ
6. Any other type
Some voting site says ISFP but that's just popular opinion. Not easy typing a depressed alcoholic.
yeghor
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For much of the stuff he talked about or wrote about, I think he was projecting himself onto others, seeing everyone as bad and defective as himself.
He had a grim view of the world. He sedated himself heavily with alcohol and sex. That makes me think he was an xSTP type. ExTPs and IxTPs are prone to nihilism, disillusionment with the world.
Probably ESTP and enneagram 8. I like his truths though.
He had a grim view of the world. He sedated himself heavily with alcohol and sex. That makes me think he was an xSTP type. ExTPs and IxTPs are prone to nihilism, disillusionment with the world.
Probably ESTP and enneagram 8. I like his truths though.
Kingu Kurimuzon
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His poetry reminds me a bit of the poetry of Ernest Hemingway, another ESTP.
There’s a.....bluntness..... to both of their writing styles. Both their prose and poetry are very similar to me
While both seem to be grasping at something higher, both are mired in the realization of the brutality and blandness of the physical world around them
Women is a really great novel, a hard, depressing read though. It reads like a documentary or autobiography (which it largely is) more than it does like a novel with a traditional story structure. It’s not one I’d care to read more than once, although I’m glad I read it. But once was enough. The central protagonist/narrator is disgustingly relatable
There’s a.....bluntness..... to both of their writing styles. Both their prose and poetry are very similar to me
While both seem to be grasping at something higher, both are mired in the realization of the brutality and blandness of the physical world around them
Women is a really great novel, a hard, depressing read though. It reads like a documentary or autobiography (which it largely is) more than it does like a novel with a traditional story structure. It’s not one I’d care to read more than once, although I’m glad I read it. But once was enough. The central protagonist/narrator is disgustingly relatable
yeghor
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Might be but ISTP's Se is in secondary position meaning they have better control over their sensory hunger.
Bukowski was out of control and needed constant sensory gratification to avoid depression and self-loathing. That's why I thought he might be more like an ESTP.
Kingu Kurimuzon
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He was an alcoholic living a freelance writer’s life, so that may explain some of it.
I could see him as an ISTP, he seemed kind of irritated by intrusions in his semi autobiographical novels. I’m Ti dominant, his novels resonated with me.
yeghor
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Bukowski appearently had a tender side that he hid from the world under a tough armor:
"Bukowski's work was subject to controversy throughout his career, and he readily admitted to admiring strong leaders such as Adolf Hitler and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hugh Fox claimed that his sexism in poetry, at least in part, translated into his life.
In 1969, Fox published the first critical study of Bukowski in The North American Review, and mentioned Bukowski's attitude toward women: "When women are around, he has to play Man. In a way it's the same kind of 'pose' he plays at in his poetry—Bogart, Eric Von Stroheim.
Whenever my wife Lucia would come with me to visit him he'd play the Man role, but one night she couldn't come I got to Buk's place and found a whole different guy—easy to get along with, relaxed, accessible."
"Bukowski's work was subject to controversy throughout his career, and he readily admitted to admiring strong leaders such as Adolf Hitler and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hugh Fox claimed that his sexism in poetry, at least in part, translated into his life.
In 1969, Fox published the first critical study of Bukowski in The North American Review, and mentioned Bukowski's attitude toward women: "When women are around, he has to play Man. In a way it's the same kind of 'pose' he plays at in his poetry—Bogart, Eric Von Stroheim.
Whenever my wife Lucia would come with me to visit him he'd play the Man role, but one night she couldn't come I got to Buk's place and found a whole different guy—easy to get along with, relaxed, accessible."
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