Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness
The City Lights collection of the year before — the wilder underground-newspaper stories.
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South of No North
The first Black Sparrow story collection: twenty-seven stories of the buried life, folding in the two rare 1960s prose pamphlets.
- 1973
About Charles Bukowski
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeSouth of No North: Stories of the Buried Life, published by Black Sparrow Press in 1973, was Bukowski's first collection of short stories from the press that handled his poetry and novels. Its twenty-seven stories run the register of his short fiction — anecdote, invention and self-portrait, with Henry Chinaski, his fictional alter ego, appearing in several — and the volume quietly performs a rescue: it folds in the contents of his two scarce 1960s prose pamphlets, Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live with Beasts (1965) and All the Assholes in the World and Mine (1966), which had appeared in editions of a few hundred copies and became widely accessible here for the first time. The collection has stayed in print for fifty years and remains, with Hot Water Music, one of the two standard doors into the short fiction.
The story, in more detail
The title phrase — south of no north — names the compass of the stories: places off every map that matters, rented rooms and bars and jobs with nothing above or below them. Where the City Lights collection of the previous year had gathered the wilder underground-newspaper stories, this volume is the Black Sparrow version of Bukowski's short fiction: quieter selection, the same world. The two absorbed pamphlets give it bibliographic weight beyond its contents — the previously scarce 1960s prose pieces became widely accessible in a major collection here.
Themes and analysis
Edna leaves
“Loneliness” first gives Edna room to imagine Joe’s solitary daily routine. Her sympathy makes a meeting possible, but neither his comfortable apartment nor his talk about relationships guarantees respect for her. His later refusal to let her leave exposes the gap between discussing loneliness and recognizing another person’s wishes. The repeated advertisement becomes more troubling when its promise of companionship turns into a demand. Edna’s departure is therefore an act of self-protection, not a failure to be sympathetic enough. Returning home ends this encounter without pretending that the desire for connection has been resolved.
Worn shoes and repair materials
The shoe repairs in “Bop Bop Against That Curtain” belong to a childhood economy in which damaged possessions provoke more concern than injured bodies. Worn soles cost money; torn trousers also expose the poverty the parents want hidden. The narrator’s account makes that pressure shape even how the boys play, teaching them to protect their clothing while accepting pain. His boastful toughness should not make the neglect admirable. Read beside the closing memory of unemployed fathers afraid of an electricity bill, the repairs connect family shame and material scarcity without turning remembered cruelty into an inevitable or excusable response.
Why we recommend it
One of the two doors into the stories
With Hot Water Music, the standard entry to Bukowski's short fiction — and the one that carries the 1960s prose inside it.
The pamphlets, rescued
Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live with Beasts and All the Assholes in the World and Mine, scarce as pamphlets, became widely readable in these pages.
Chinaski among other narrators
The variety of stories lets readers compare Bukowski’s recurring alter ego with other ways of presenting a life on the margins.
What this book explores
Timeline
1965–1966
The two prose pamphlets later absorbed by the collection appear in editions of a few hundred copies.
1973
Black Sparrow Press publishes the collection — its first volume of Bukowski's stories.
2002
The Bukowski catalogue passes to Ecco, which keeps the book in print.
Book editions
Paperback
- Paperback
- Black Sparrow Press
- 1973
- Paperback
- Ecco
- 2002
- 9780876851890
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South of No North: frequently asked questions
What is South of No North about?
Twenty-seven short stories of what the subtitle calls the buried life — rented rooms, bars, and low-paid work in Los Angeles — published by Black Sparrow Press in 1973. Henry Chinaski, a fictional alter ego of the author, appears in several.
Does it really contain the 1960s pamphlets?
Yes. Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live with Beasts — first published as a 500-copy chapbook in 1965 — and All the Assholes in the World and Mine (1966) are both collected here, which is how the two scarce pamphlets became widely readable.
Is it a good introduction to Bukowski's short stories?
It is one of the two usual introductions, with Hot Water Music. Start here for the buried-life stories and the absorbed 1960s prose; start with the City Lights volumes for the wilder underground-newspaper material.
What does the title mean?
A place off every map — south of a north that does not exist. It names the territory of the stories: lives conducted outside the city that appears in newspapers.
Is it still in print?
Yes — continuously since 1973, currently from Ecco under the original Black Sparrow ISBN.
How many stories are in it?
Twenty-seven, including the two 1960s prose pamphlets it absorbed.
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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 South of No North, its publication, and its place in literary history.
1South of No North
NovelCharles Bukowski, 1973Used 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 short fiction of the early 1970s and the absorbed pamphlets in the career narrative.
3South of No North (short story collection)
WebsiteWikipediaUsed forContents including the two absorbed pamphlets, the Bensenville Mimeo Press chapbook history, and edition ISBNs.
4Charles Bukowski timeline (bukowski.net)
WebsiteUsed forPublication year and the collection's place in the chronology.
5Charles Bukowski: books and chapbooks (Verdant Press checklist)
WebsiteUsed forBibliographic details checked against the checklist.
6South of No North — Loneliness and Bop Bop Against That Curtain transcriptions
WebsiteEnglishroam (third-party teaching-page transcriptions)Used forComplete publicly displayed English transcriptions of Loneliness and Bop Bop Against That Curtain. The teaching-page text has typographic and spacing errors; it is not an original-edition facsimile or a full-collection reading.
7South of No North — collection contents
WebsiteCharles Bukowski Poem and Story DatabaseUsed forSpecialist contents identify Loneliness on page 11 and Bop Bop Against That Curtain on page 17; used to confirm collection membership.
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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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