Post Office

"It began as a mistake." By middle age, Henry Chinaski has lost more than twelve years of his life to the U.S. Postal Service. In a world where his three true, bitter pleasures are women, booze, and racetrack betting, he somehow drags his hangover out of bed every dawn to lug waterlogged mailbags up mud-soaked mountains, outsmart vicious guard dogs, and pray to survive the day-to-day trials of sadistic bosses and certifiable coworkers. This classic 1971 novel—the one that catapulted its author to national fame—is the perfect introduction to the grimly hysterical world of legendary writer, poet, and Dirty Old Man Charles Bukowski and his fictional alter ego, Chinaski.

聲稱可以用葡萄酒寫作的爭議詩人Bukowski第一本小說作品，重新出版。出生於德國的Charles Bukowski，父親是美國士兵，母親是德國人，他兩歲就隨著父母遷至美國，他大部分的時間都居住在洛杉磯，不過他從小就不受歡迎，甚至遭到父親的家暴。他從來不曾一帆風順過，他胃潰瘍大出血差點死去，他閒晃買醉，他大都從事洗碗等低層的工作，直到他1971年開始在郵局工作，他當時以在郵局工作的細節為小說腳本，寫下了這本《Post Office》。書中以第一人稱自述，交織著本身的情事、大量的酒精與性及賭博，主角永遠沒有飛黃騰達的機會，我們看到的只有無盡的悲慘、荒謬的劇情與難堪的狀況。《Post Office》對於美國當時社會體制的嘲諷與底層人民生活的真實呈現，讓這本以〝我恨這份工作〞為主軸的小說，成為第一本Bukowski的經典小說作品。