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Carl SolomonAmerican writer
Date of Birth: 30.03.1928
Country:  USA |
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Biography of Carl Solomon
Carl Solomon (Carl Solomon) was an American poet and writer, best known for his silent protest gesture at a college in New York, which became a catalyst for the development of the Beat culture in the second half of the 20th century. Many researchers and literary experts consider Carl to be the founder of the Beat philosophy, and Allen Ginsberg, a friend and collaborator of Carl, depicted his action in his poem "Howl," giving his silent protest a composition and clothing the "potato salad philosophy" in the language of poetry. Interestingly, few people know that Ginsberg's poem was originally titled "A Howl for Carl Solomon," but was later renamed and became known by its shortened title. Many events described in the poem are somehow related to the moment of Allen and Carl's acquaintance and their joint ventures — not always lofty and poetic, not always worthy of being told.
Early Life
Carl Solomon was born on March 30, 1928, in the Bronx, New York City. In 1939, his father passed away, which was a blow to the young boy who, after losing his closest person, underwent noticeable changes. He confessed, "I descended into some disciplinary chaos and intellectual adventures that I soon ceased to understand." It was in this state that he began writing his early poems, which could have been material for any psychiatric clinic.
The Potato Salad Incident
After completing high school at the age of 15, Carl enrolled in City College of New York but was soon drafted into the army. He spent some time on military bases and, while overseas, discovered the works of Antonin Artaud, becoming interested in art and admiring surrealism and Dadaism. The most famous incident in his life is associated with the latter. Believing that art should be felt rather than spoken about, in other words, being an advocate of empiricism in both art and literature, Solomon was infuriated by a lecture on Dadaism that he heard within the walls of City College of New York. In a fit of rage, he weighed a bag of potato salad in his hand, which he had bought for lunch, and the next moment, the mass flew directly at the professor who dared to talk about what shouldn't have been discussed.
Friendship with Allen Ginsberg
Shortly after this incident, Carl met Allen in Rockland, New Jersey, at a psychiatric clinic. While Solomon arrived there as a perfectly worthy client for such an institution, Ginsberg was undergoing "treatment" that saved him from several months in city jail. The young men quickly became friends, and later, Allen's poem "Howl" — or "A Howl for Carl Solomon" — repeatedly returned to his friend's act and their meeting place. However, as some researchers reasonably argue, in the light of their friendship, one can only speak of a cause-and-effect relationship, a philosophical evolution of thought — from silent protest to the ultimate literary protest.
In the history of the United States, Carl Solomon remains a bright spot or, rather, a flying mass of potato salad.
