Carl Solomon’s Followers (16)

Carl Solomon

Born

in New York City, The United States

March 30, 1928

Died

February 26, 1993

Genre

Poetry

Influences

Antonin Artaud ...more

edit data

Carl Solomon (March 30, 1928 – February 26, 1993) was an American writer.

Solomon was born in the New York City borough of the Bronx. His father's death in 1939 profoundly affected his early life. Solomon later said, "I drifted into indiscipline and intellectual adventure that eventually became complete confusion." Graduating from high school at 15, Solomon attended the City College of New York (CCNY) for a short time before joining the United States Maritime Service in 1944. In his travels overseas, Solomon was exposed to Surrealism and Dada, which inspired him throughout his life. In Paris, he witnessed Antonin Artaud give a screaming poetry reading. This so impressed him that he remained a disciple of Artaud for much of his life. It was s Carl Solomon (March 30, 1928 – February 26, 1993) was an American writer.

Solomon was born in the New York City borough of the Bronx. His father's death in 1939 profoundly affected his early life. Solomon later said, "I drifted into indiscipline and intellectual adventure that eventually became complete confusion." Graduating from high school at 15, Solomon attended the City College of New York (CCNY) for a short time before joining the United States Maritime Service in 1944. In his travels overseas, Solomon was exposed to Surrealism and Dada, which inspired him throughout his life. In Paris, he witnessed Antonin Artaud give a screaming poetry reading. This so impressed him that he remained a disciple of Artaud for much of his life. It was shortly after this period that Solomon was voluntarily institutionalized, a gesture he made as a Dadaist symbol of defeat.

Solomon first met Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in the waiting room of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Ginsberg later dedicated his poem Howl to Solomon. The poem's third section uses the refrain "I'm with you in Rockland", an institution Solomon never attended. Solomon had many complaints about Ginsberg and Howl, including that he was "never in Rockland" and that the third section of the poem "garbles history completely". The reference to Rockland appears to be a poetic fabrication. Ginsberg likely used the name because it was more appropriate and emphatic than "New York State Hospital" or "Pilgrim" (Pilgrim Psychiatric Center, another psychiatric hospital Solomon was admitted to). The poem's first section immortalizes a few of Solomon's personal exploits, such as the line "who threw potato salad at CCNY lecturers on Dadaism and subsequently presented themselves on the granite steps of the madhouse with shaven heads and harlequin speech of suicide, demanding instantaneous lobotomy."

It was at Ginsberg's insistence that William S. Burroughs's first novel, Junkie, was published by Ace Books. Solomon's uncle, Aaron A. Wyn, owned Ace Books, a purveyor of pulp fiction and nonfiction paperbacks. Solomon worked for Ace and was responsible for the Publisher's Note in the first printing of Junkie, as well as the Introduction to the 1964 reprinting.

One of Solomon's best-known pieces of writing is Report from the Asylum: Afterthoughts of a Shock Patient. It is an account of the electroconvulsive therapy used to treat patients in asylums, drawn directly from personal experience. It was written with Artaud somewhat in mind, because he had received the same treatment while unjustly institutionalized by the French government. The piece was included in the 50th-anniversary Howl
In the late 1960s, Solomon published two chapbooks of prose poetry with Mary Beach's Beach Books, Texts & Documents, distributed by City Lights Books: Mishaps, Perhaps (1966) and More Mishaps (1968). Emergency Messages (1989) features selections from the two books along with some of Solomon's other autobiographical, critical and poetic writings. He was a frequent contributor to New Directions Annual, American Book Review, and The New Leader. ...more

Combine Editions
Carl Solomon’s books

Average rating: 3.91 · 169 ratings · 22 reviews · 8 distinct works • Similar authors

	Junkie by William S. Burroughs, Carl Solomon (Preface) 3.84 avg rating — 73,831 ratings — published 1953 — 141 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	POESÍA BEAT by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs 4.07 avg rating — 57 ratings — published 2004 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Beat Generation and the Angry Young Men by Gene Feldman (Editor), Max Gartenberg (Editor), Anatole Broyard 4.09 avg rating — 46 ratings — published 1958 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mishaps, Perhaps 3.93 avg rating — 44 ratings — published 1966 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	More Mishaps 3.71 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 1968 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Emergency Messages: An Autobiographical Miscellany by Carl Solomon, John Tytell 3.79 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 1988 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	More mishaps: Beach books, texts & documents 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	50 Mistakes Business Owners Make by Marcus Guiliano, Carl Solomon 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Carl Solomon…

Quotes by Carl Solomon (?)

“...travel is a flop so far as I'm concerned. Wherever you go you are a tourist, that is to say some sucker to the odd denizens of the place. Give me my home, my imagination, and my dreams.”
― Carl Solomon, Mishaps, Perhaps

0 likes

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Reading For P...: * A Literary Diary - what happened today in literary history?	955	180	Oct 15, 2015 11:51AM

Carl Solomon’s Followers (16)

Carl Solomon

Combine EditionsCarl Solomon’s books

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Carl Solomon’s books