User:Jacob Simon Egan/Sample page

= John Solt = John Solt (born November 6, 1949, in Cape Town, South Africa) is an American poet, award-winning translator, independent scholar and Japan expert. Solt is a leading authority on Japanese 20th-century experimental and surrealist art and poetry. His focus has been on two cutting-edge innovators Kitasono Katue and Yamamoto Kansuke. Solt is the author of Shredding the Tapestry of Meaning: The Poetry and Poetics of Kitasono Katue (1902-1978),  a critical and social biography of one of the most influential Japanese avant-garde artists whose reputation Solt's book has revived and bolstered.

BIOGRAPHY

Solt’s parents George and Maria Strausz (the name was later changed to Solt) were Hungarian Jews who fled Budapest when the Nazis invaded Hungary in 1944. They managed to safely make their way to London, England and a few years later moved to Cape Town, South Africa, where Solt was born. In 1958, the family emigrated to the United States, and became residents of West Hollywood, California.

He married Sachiko Sekine, a native of Japan, in 1973. They divorced in 2001. They have two sons. Ken Solt (named after Kenneth Rexroth) is an associate professor of anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School. George Solt is a historian and the author of The Untold History of Ramen: How Political Crisis in Japan Spawned a Global Food Craze. John Solt’s older brother Andrew W. Solt, is a film and television writer, producer and director and also the owner of the complete library of Ed Sullivan television shows. Solt’s uncle, Andrew P. Solt, was a playwright and Hollywood screenwriter, best known for his script for film noir classic, In a Lonely Place.

EDUCATION
EDUCATION

Solt graduated from Hollywood High School in 1965. For college he attended the University of  California at Santa Barbara, where he earned a BA and graduated magna cum laude. One of his professors at UCSB was Kenneth Rexroth, the radical modernist poet and translator of Japanese literature who would be instrumental in pointing Solt toward his future career. Rexroth believed Kitasono was the best of Japan's avant-gardists, and as  Solt puts it, he "kick-started” his interest in Japanese poetry  and the works of Kitasono. Rexroth became a mentor to Solt and remained a close friend for the remainder of his life.

Solt pursued his post-graduate education, first in Japan and then in the United States. He earned a master’s degree from Sophia University in Tokyo in 1980. He concurrently attended nearby Gakushūin University where famous linguist Susumu Ōno taught.

Solt went on to Harvard University. There he earned an MA, specializing in premodern and modern Japanese literature. Howard Hibbett, the chairman of the department kn own for his prize-winning translations of Japanese literature, became one of Solt’s PhD thesis advisors. The topic was on Kitasono, which Solt later turned into his full-fledged biography of the avant-garde artist published in 1999. A Japanese translation came out in 2007.

Solt graduated from Hollywood High School in 1967. He went to college at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He earned a B.A. and graduated magna cum laude. One of his professors at UCSB was Kenneth Rexroth, the radical modernist poet and critic who would be instrumental in pointing Solt toward his future career. Rexroth became a mentor to Solt and remained a close friend for the rest of his life. Called the founding father of the San Francisco Renaissance of the 1950s, Rexroth was also well-known as a translator of foreign and especially Asian verse, including two anthologies of Japanese poems. Solt says Rexroth “kick started” his interest in Japanese poetry and literature and first introduced him to the work of Kitasono, wh he described as “the most important Japanese avant-gardist with an international reputation.”

Solt pursued his post-graduate education, first in Japan and then in the United States. He earned a master’s degree from Sophia University in Tokyo in 1980; he concurrently attended nearby Gakushūin University studying with the renowned linguist Susumu Ōno.

Solt then went on to Harvard University, where he earned an AM degree in 1982 and a PhD in 1989. He studied at the school’s Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, specializing in premodern and modern Japanese literature. One of Solt’s professors was Howard Hibbett, the chairman of the department and director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies from 1985 through 1988.He was also known for his prize-winning translations of Japanese authors and helped introduce the English-speaking world to Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. Hibbett was Solt’s PhD thesis advisor. The topic was Kitasono Katue which Solt turned into “Shredding the Tapestry of Meaning: The Poetry and Poetics of Kitasono Katue (1902-1978),” Solt’s full-fledged biography, published in 1999. A Japanese translation came out in 2007.

POETRY
Solt started to write poetry when he was fifteen years old. His first published book of poems was The Memories Are More Than I Can Remember in1980, followed in 1988  by Anything You Don’t Want You Can Have and Underwater Balcony.

Poems for the Unborn, a bilingual collection of Solt’s body of poetry was published in 2020. Eiko Aoki did the translations into Japanese. In the 700-page volume Solt inserted graphic touches inspired by Japanese surrealists. "At times a hippie, at other times s a satirist, but more than either of those, he is a poet,” wrote Taylor Mignon in a review for the  Kyoto Journal. “Few can match Solt's elegant, unique, and enlightened aplomb."

Solt’s poems have over a 30 year period appeared in GUI, a Japanese poetry magazine. Other poetry, including Poems in Memory of Kenneth Rexroth, have been in Literature and Art, an on-line magazine edited by Uri Herz. They have also appeared in Notebook on Modern Poetry. Meanwhile, Solt continues to issue his zen-like and aphoristic Chocolate Poems, printed on edible chocolate rectangles. The limited edition boxed sets have come out intermittently since 2007.

Solt's magnum opus started writing poetry when he was fifteen. His first published book of poems came out in 1980, The Memories Are More Than I Can Remember. Two books followed in 1988, Anything You Don’t with his mother's Want You Can Have and Underwater Balcony.

His magnum opus is Poems for the Unborn. The bilingual collection of Solt’s poetry was published in 2020. Eiko Aoki did the translations into Japanese and wrote an afterword. The 700-page volume, which includes years of Solt's contributions to Gui, a Japanese literary magazinea nd successor to VOU founded by Kitasono. It is illustrated with Solt's own graphic ephemera such as postcards and mail stamps, some with his mother's face on them. "A book that looks as good as it reads," wrote Taylor Mignon in his review for the Kyoto Journal. "At times a hippie, at others a satirist, but more than either of those, Solt is a poet. Few can match Solt's elegant, unique, and enlightened aplomb." Marjorie Perloff, in a review for Common Knowledge, said Solt’s poetry “riddling short lyrics laced with humor and a telling irony makes the reader smile with a shock of recognition.”

Solt’s poems have often appeared in GUI, a Japanese literary magazine put out by past members of VOU, a group of experimental artists who coalesced aroundVOU magazine started by Kitasono in 1935. In VOU, Kitasono launched his cutting-edge "plastic poems," which combine visual elements and typography to create artistic and expressive compositions within the context of written poetry.

Solt’s  Poems in Memory of Kenneth Rexroth appeared in Literature and Arts, an on-line magazine, as a contribution to a Rexroth Festschrift--a series of studies of Rexroth’s literary, historical and cultural significance. Meanwhile, Solt continues to write his Chocolate Poems, epigrammatic  zen-like verses printed on rectangles of chocolate. The limited-edition boxed sets of edible chocolate poems have been coming out annually since 2006.

KITASONO KATUE
Kitasono Katue was the best known Japanese avant-garde poet-artist in Europe and the United States during the early part of the 20th century. In 1935 he started the VOU club, and its offshoot, VOU magazine (published 1935-1940 and 1946-1978). Many of Japan's best-known poets belonged to VOU at one time or another. Kitasono was in contact with many writers and poets abroad. The most significant was Ezra Pound, a trailblazer of modernist poetry with whom Kitasono corresponded over several decades. Pound's fond nickname for Kitasono was Kit-Kat. Pound also promoted awareness of Kitasono and VOU magazine in European literary circles.

In Japan, Solt’s critical and intellectual biography has prompted renewed interest in Kitasono and his avant-garde innovations. In the United States, the book has kindled  new appreciation of Kitasono’s art and recognition of his role in the development of Japanese surrealism. "Solt’s study of Kitasono gives English-language readers for the first time a detailed and comprehensive treatment of this major world poet, only one of a handful of Japanese poets to have an international reputation,” wrote Leith D. Morton in a review for The Journal of Japanese Studies. The biography “will for many years remain the definitive work on Kitasono Katsue and his associates,” wrote Miryam Sas in her book Fault Lines: Cultural Memory and Japanese Surrealism.

In 1995 Solt published Glass Beret: The Selected Poems of Kitasono Katue. He received the 1996 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature.

Solt has also amassed what may well be the world’s largest trove of Kitasono art. And museums that have held Kitasono art exhibits have relied on access to Solt’s collection.

Two Japanese museums--the Setagaya held a first-of-its-kind exhibit in 2010, Hashimoto Heihachi and Kitasono Katue: Unusual Pair of Brothers, a Sculptor and a Poet, a side-by-side show of the art of Kitasono and that of his older brother Hashimoto—known for his wood sculptures. Nearly all of the 100 Kitasono pieces on display came from Solt’s collection. The enthusiastic positive public response to the show lifted Kitasono’s reputation. “There was a curious phenomenon after our exhibition,” observed Noda Natoshi, who was the curator at the Setgaya Art Museum in Tokyo. “Kitasono Katue became an ‘idol’ among young artists and art lovers—especially photographers, designers, and poets. Suddenly it became unhip to be unfamiliar with Kitasono and his works.” He noted  that “in Japan, Kitasono Katue’s reputation as an artist, designer, and photographer has been rising exponentially in the past 10 years.”

In 2013, Solt collaborated with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in mounting “Kitasono Katue: Surrealist Poet,” the first solo retrospective of the artist’s work in the United States or anywhere outside of Japan. The Kitasono art in the show--over eighty original photographs, paintings, and drawings, as well as many rare publications--were all selected from Solt's collection by Hollis Goodall, curator of Japanese art for LACMA, providing an overview of his entire career. The Los Angeles Times called the exhibit "a must-see for anyone interested in modern Japanese art." The reviewer praised the "breadth and depth" of the show, saying it provided a "fascinating glimpse into the mind of one of Japan's most important and enigmatic artists." The New York Times called the exhibit "a revelation," noting that Kitasno's work was "both beautiful and disturbing," and that it offered a "unique perspective on Japanese history and culture."

YAMAMOTO KANSUKE
Solt has also devoted  his attention to the work of Yamamoto Kansuke, a Japanese photographer and poet who is known as one of Japan’s most accomplished avant-garde artists. His work embraced surrealistic motifs to convey eroticism challenged Japanese society’s illiberal cultural norms, expressing antiwar and anti-government sentiments. Eroticism was also a theme. Kansuke was a member of VOU. He joined in 1935 and continued until the group dissolved in 1978.

Solt first met Kansuke in 1985, when he interviewed him for his book on the subject of the “Thought Police,” heavy-handed government censors who clamped down on Kansuke and other avant-garde artists including Kitasono during World War II. Solt became friends with Kansuke and they were in touch until his death in 1987.

Years of effort by Solt to interest a museum to put on a Kansuke exhibition culminated when Tokyo Station Gallery mounted “Surrealist Kansuke Yamamoto” in 2001. Solt and Ryuchi Kaneko co-curated the exhibit, the largest and most comprehensive display ever devoted to the artist. Solt wrote the introductory essay for the exhibition catalogue, “Kansuke Yamamoto: Conveyor of the Impossible.” The show was well reviewed. “A ‘Subversive’ Finally Brought in from the Cold,” was the headline of a review in the Japanese Times, declaring “the exhibition goes beyond its subject’s photography to demonstrate the breadth and depth of his remarkable talents.”

Solt was a consultant for a landmark show, Japan’s Modern Divide: The Photographs of Hiroshi Hamaya and Kansuke Yamamoto that the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles put oo from March 26 to August 25, 2013, drawing  an impressive 360,00 visitors. The exhibit contrasted Kansuke’s surreal art with Hamaya’s realistic black and white photography of Japan and its people in the post-World War II era. Solt was acknowledged for his “great counsel on numerous fronts, and his insights about Japanese language, culture and history that have informed this project on every level,” by the Getty’s photography curators, Judith Keller and Amanda Maddox.

BUTOH
Solt’s exploration of Japan’s 20th century avant-garde culture has encompassed other experimental art forms, such as Butoh, a new type of dance choreography that sprang up in 1960s Japan, in reaction to the shocks of World War II and the social turmoil that followed. Butoh, is known for its expressionistic, glacially slow choreography. Kazuo Ohno, the world’s most famous Butoh dancer, was a friend of Solt. The relationship spanned three decades, lasting until Ohno’s death in 2007 at the age of 103. The two first met in 1978, introduced by Kazuko Shiraishi, a Japanese-Canadian Beat poet who had emerged from Kitasono’s VOU group.

In the early 1990s, Ohno did a world tour dancing Water Lilies, one of his best-known works. The last stop was at Amherst, where Solt was an assistant professor of Japanese studies. Ohno had asked Solt if he could arrange a performance there, in part because it was the alma mater of Protestant missionary Joseph Neesima, whom he revered as a fellow-Christian. The founder of Doshisha University, Neesima was the first person from Japan to attend and graduate from an American University.

Solt produced a butoh theater piece, “Lusty Woman, 69th Generation,” for Motofuji Akiko, one of the founders of butoh. She performed it in Tokyo in 1999. In 2006, to commemorate the 100th birthday centennial of Kazuo Ohno, Solt organized one-day festivals in Bangkok, Thailand, Kyoto in Japan and at Amherst, culminating in New York City at the Martin Segal Theater. The festivals featured rare Ohno performance footage comprised of videos that Ohno gave to Solt over 25 years.