Maja Thurup

Maja Thurup is a short story by Charles Bukowski. The story is about a South American tribesman with an enormous penis[1] who is brought to Los Angeles by the woman anthropologist who has 'discovered' him and became his lover.[2]

About

The story is not about Maja; it's about Bukowski. The major protagonist is not Maja; it's an alcoholic, down-on-his-luck feature writer named Chinaski whose editor promises him a $500 payday if he can "....beat the March 27 deadline." Bukowski claimed in an interview that the story was inspired by a newspaper headline he had read about a woman that had, "found a savage and brought him back home with her". [3]

Plot

Chinaski, the writer/interviewer, heads over to the newly married couple's apartment for the interview. Hester Adams extols Maja Thurup's virtues. Maja drinks and begins carping about Hester's insatiable sexual appetite: "She big hungry tunnel." Hester apologizes for Maja's outbursts, explaining that "Maja has been drinking since this morning." The writer leaves, planning to complete the interview the next day.

Chinaski returns with a photographer, another down-on-his-luck alcoholic like himself, to find Maja still drunk, still pounding away on his drum. "Hester not in," he tells them, "she gone to grocery store." Sam the photographer decides to check the refrigerator for more beer. Henry hears the door opening followed immediately by vomiting. He initially chalks it up to Sam's being a heavy drinker but soon surmises the truth behind the photographer's continuing strange behavior. After a hasty departure they stop to buy gas and to call the police. Chinaski's only regret is being out the $500 he could have earned had Hester only survived another day.

References
  1. "Charles Bukowski". Los Angeles Free Press. Volume 10, issue 452. Independent Voices, Reveal Digital. Los Angeles Free Press. March 16, 1973. p. 20. Retrieved 2020-12-26.CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. "A sud di nessun nord". Mangialibri (in Italian). 2020-08-06. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  3. Bukowski, Charles (2003). Sunlight Here I Am: Interviews and Encounters, 1963-1993. Sun Dog Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-941543-37-8.

Further reading
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