In the novel, Joyce is portrayed as a wealthy nymphomaniac. After two years of marriage in the late 1950s, she filed for divorce, accusing him of 'mental cruelty'. Bukowski's first wife, Barbara Frye ('Joyce'), suffered a physical deformity – two vertebrae were missing from her neck, giving the impression that 'she was permanently hunching her shoulders'. She also served as the model for 'Wanda' in the 1987 Bukowski-scripted film Barfly. The great love of Bukowski's life, Jane Cooney Baker ('Betty' in Post Office), was a widowed alcoholic 11 years his senior with an immense beer belly. After a brief hiatus, in which he supported himself by gambling at horse races, he returned to the post office to work as a sorter. During this time, Chinaski/Bukowski worked as a mail carrier for a number of years. It covers the period of Bukowski's life from about 1952 to his resignation from the United States Postal Service three years later, to his return in 1958 and then to his final resignation in 1969.

Post Office introduces Bukowski's autobiographical anti-hero, Henry Chinaski. Writing and publication Īn autobiographical account of Bukowski's years working as a carrier and sorter for the United States Postal Service, the novel is 'dedicated to nobody'. Chinaski drifts from place to place, surviving through booze and women, with his biting sense of humor and a cynical view of the world. In Los Angeles, California, down-and-out barfly Henry Chinaski becomes a substitute mail carrier he quits for a while and lives on his winnings at the race track, then becomes a mail clerk. The film rights to the novel were sold in the early 1970s, but a film has not been made thus far. The book is an autobiographical memoir of Bukowski's years working at the United States Postal Service. Post Office is the first novel written by the German-American author Charles Bukowski, published in 1971.

Postman charles bukowski