Ask the Dust
By: John Fante
Reviewed by: Julia
"I was like a man who found gold in the city dump" recalls Bukowski of the day he found a copy of 'Ask the Dust' in the LA Public Library. In 1939 its publication had gone unnoticed and Fante's writing languished in obscurity for 40 years.
'Ask the Dust' is one of the Bandini quartet, four books which describe the lives of Fante's literary alter-ego: Arturo Bandini.
In 'Ask the Dust', a young Bandini has fled Colorado for the gilded streets of Los Angeles
His dream, to write and be a writer. Fante exposes his wounds as he describes Bandini's desperate life in LA during the Depression. Bandini survives on nickel-bags of oranges as he thrashes against the tumultuous waves of his creativity.
John Fante knew how to write and he prefigured a generation of writers, the Beats, who would share his passion for honest, immediate prose.
Masterful!