Name: Henry “Hank” Chinaski
Residence: Hollywood; downtown L.A.; San Pedro
Occupation: Writer, civil servant, factotum
Wheels: Various or none
Interests: Horse racing, Classical music
Upon leaving L.A.C.C., author Henry “Hank” Chinaski traveled around the United States, working a series of odd jobs and staying in various rooming houses, before returning to L.A. to actively pursue his dream of writing. A prolific writer of poems, short stories and novels, he nonetheless spent many years either unemployed, working as a day laborer, or in the employ of the U.S. Postal Service before he achieved that dream. He emulated his idols, John Fante and Ernest Hemingway, both in writing style and lifestyle, actively indulging in “manly” pleasures–drinking, fighting, and playing the horses at Hollywood Park or Santa Anita–whenever possible. Highly unattractive by his own admission (with the exception of ‘excellent legs’, of which he was quite proud), Chinaski was also quite a ladies’ man, and enjoyed relationships of varying duration with a variety of women.
linkage: wikipedia, litkicks and some choice (NSFW) quotage at IMDb
Many a good man has been put under the bridge by a woman.
–Henry Chinaski
Personally I would’ve used a different pic.
He looks a might too clean in that one.
Not so fictional. Barfly was written by Charles Bukowski ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bukowski ). Much of Bukowski’s work, although fictional, was based on his own life. Barfly is basically a compilation of the best stories from a number of Bukowski’s books.
should have been number one
I think a pic of a skid row bum would be a better representation of Bukowski’s alter ego than Mickey Rourke…then again, any current day photo of Mickey does look a lot like a skid row bum. Shouldn’t have got in the ring, pretty boy.
My top choice would’ve been an R. Crumb drawing of Chinaski in all his sodden glory. Only I couldn’t find one online and I’ll be damned if I’m cracking the spine on one of my Black Sparrow Press books.