Reach for the Sun
The last volume of letters, running to the year he died — the San Pedro decades, the film work, and the illness at the end.
- 1999
- Wry
- Melancholy
- Savage
- autobiographical
- voice-driven
- funny
- intimate
About Charles Bukowski
About the volume
Reach for the Sun, published by Black Sparrow Press in 1999 and edited by Seamus Cooney, is the third and final volume of Charles Bukowski's selected letters. It covers 1978 to 1994, from the European trips that showed him the size of his foreign readership to the leukemia that killed him in March 1994. Between those points are the San Pedro years: the marriage to Linda Lee Beighle, the writing of Ham on Rye, the Barfly screenplay and the film that came from it, and a correspondence that keeps returning to the work itself. The first edition was issued with 376 copies carrying an original serigraph print by Bukowski.
The volume, in more detail
Read as a set, the three volumes are the most complete first-person account of Bukowski's life that exists, because he never wrote a straight memoir — the novels are fiction and the poems are compressed. Most people know these years through the film Barfly and the television interviews. The letters show the same years from Bukowski's desk.
Themes and analysis
At the German racetrack
His July 16, 1978 letter to William Packard begins with an inconvenience: the German racetrack has no toteboard, so Bukowski cannot use his usual betting method. That complaint puts a practical limit beside the letter’s account of crowded readings and television attention. Being celebrated abroad does not make the world work on his terms. His amused judgment of his own televised appearance adds another distance: he can watch the public Bukowski looking convincingly like himself. The letter both performs the unruly persona and lets its recipient see the performance being assessed.
Harbor lights from San Pedro
The December 31, 1978 letter makes the harbor view part of an unsettled domestic balance. The balcony offers pleasure, but the mortgage turns the house into an obligation; the old desk remains the point from which Bukowski describes both. His report moves rapidly between travel, publication, film work and future writing, so prosperity never becomes a settled conclusion. An encounter with a former postal colleague sharpens the difference between being remembered as entertaining and remembering work as painful. The letter’s intimacy lies in allowing those competing versions of success to coexist.
Why we recommend it
The last sixteen years, first-hand
San Pedro, the marriage to Linda Lee, the film, and the illness — written as they happened.
The set completed
With the two earlier volumes, the fullest first-person record of a writer who never wrote a memoir.
Public success in private correspondence
The letters connect books, travel, and film work with the everyday concerns that continued alongside them.
What this book explores
Timeline
1978–1994
The years the letters cover: San Pedro, the marriage to Linda Lee Beighle, Barfly, and the final illness.
1994
Bukowski dies of leukemia in March.
1999
Black Sparrow Press publishes the final volume of letters.
Book editions
- Paperback
- Black Sparrow Press
- 1999
- 9781574230888
Reader reviews
Readers may also like
Screams from the Balcony
The first volume — the post-office decade where the correspondence begins.
Read our take
Reach for the Sun: frequently asked questions
What is Reach for the Sun?
The third and final volume of Charles Bukowski's selected letters, published by Black Sparrow Press in 1999 and edited by Seamus Cooney. It covers 1978 to 1994.
Does the correspondence run to his death?
Yes. The volume reaches 1994, the year Bukowski died of leukemia in March, and the letters continue into the illness.
Does it cover Barfly?
Yes — the screenplay, the years Barbet Schroeder spent getting it made, and the 1987 film all fall within these letters.
Why read the letters at all?
Bukowski never wrote a straight memoir. The novels are fiction and the poems compress. The three volumes of letters together are the fullest first-person account of his life.
Is there a signed edition?
The first edition included 376 copies carrying an original serigraph print by Bukowski.
Who does Bukowski write to in this volume?
Mostly publishers, editors and other poets — John Martin of Black Sparrow, William Packard of the New York Quarterly, and Gerald Locklin among them.
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References
References
The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document Reach for the Sun, its publication, and its place in literary history.
1Reach for the Sun
LettersCharles Bukowski, 1999Used forThe primary text represented by this page, used for descriptions of the work’s contents and for any quoted passages shown here.
2Charles Bukowski
BiographyReaktion Books, 2012Used forThe San Pedro years, Barfly and the final illness in the career narrative.
3Charles Bukowski timeline (bukowski.net)
WebsiteUsed forPublication year, editor, and the chronology the letters cover.
4Charles Bukowski: books and chapbooks (Verdant Press checklist)
WebsiteUsed forEdition details, including the serigraph issue.
5Reach for the Sun: Selected Letters 1978–1994, Volume 3 — edition record
Official recordOpen Library, Internet ArchiveUsed forOfficial record used to verify names, dates, institutional details, or other factual information on this page.
6Reach for the Sun — authorized excerpt of the 1978 letters
LettersHarperCollins (excerpt distributed by eCampus), 2003Used forFirst-person evidence and historical context used in preparing the Reach for the Sun page.
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Why these sources are here
The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.
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