Shlomo Kalo
Encyclopedia
Shlomo Kalo is an Israeli prolific author
and thinker, poet, composer and medical microbiologist who published 80 books, fiction and nonfiction. Some of his works are translated and published in 17 countries.
, Bulgaria
.
At the age of 12, Kalo joined the anti-Fascist underground in Bulgaria. Aged 15, when Bulgaria was under Nazi occupation, Kalo was imprisoned in an improvised concentration camp in Somovit..",
Aged 18, in 1946, he won a prize in a poetry competition and went to Prague
, where he studied medicine at the Charles University, worked as a freelance journalist and wrote short stories.
When the state of Israel was founded in 1948, Shlomo Kalo joined the MAHAL ("Foreigner Volunteers": individuals outside Israel who volunteered to fight together with the Israeli forces during its war of independence) and trained as a pilot in Olomouc
, Czechoslovakia
. In 1949, at the age of 21 he immigrated to Israel. In 1958 he was awarded M.Sc. in microbiology
by the Tel Aviv University
. For 26 years and until his retirement in 1988 he worked as the regional director of medical laboratories at the General Health Services, Kupat Holim Klalit, in Rishon-leZion.
His first book in Hebrew, a short stories collection was published in 1954 by "Sifriyat Poalim".
In 1969, a sharp turn in his life occurred and was described in the last pages of his autobiographic novel "Erral". It affected his life, thoughts and literary activity ever since. Kalo wrote about it:
"First Sunday of the year 1969 A.D., twelve noon.
Body tensed like a bow-string. Not he.
Warmth rising from the region of the heart. Not he.
He stopped being what he was. He will no longer be as
he was, forever and ever, for all eternity.
He was, he is, he will be, forever and ever, for all
eternity.",
In 1979 an unformal group formed around Shlomo Kalo, known as "DAAT" (Hebrew acronym, meaning knowledge, standing for "know yourself always"), with a varying nuber of members or supporters till it disintegrated in 2009. Some known and influential journalist and artists (Shlomo Bar-Aba, Odetta Schwarts, Rivka Zohar) were associated at times with the group. However Kalo's many books, influenced even individuals who never met their author.
In 2009 Israeli Newspaper Ha'aretz reported that rumours were persistent that Shlomo Kalo was among few Israeli writers who had been shortlisted for the receiving of the Nobel Prize for Literature, similar reports were made by other news sites in 2010.
Shlomo Kalo is married to Rivka Zohar-Kalo, a prominent Israeli singer, who performs and records, among others, songs he has written (music and lyrics).
During the two decades that followed Kalo continued to write prolifically and in a variety of genres and styles. in the 1990s his first titles written in a newly introduced genre "The documented stories" were published ("Forevermore" and "Moments of Truth") and one of his best selling titles, an historical novel titled "The Chosen" was printed in first edition. During these two decades translation rights of some of his books were sold in 17 countries.
Short stories written by Shlomo Kalo were published by literary magazines in Israel, as well as by literary supplements of large newspapers. Some of his stories were included in various anthologies celebrating Israel's Jubilee year and other occasions.
Prof. Gershon Shaked (Hebrew University) maintains in his study Modern Fiction (Indiana University, 2000; p 102-3) that Kalo's book The Heap marked 'two turning points in Hebrew Literary History; the beginning of modernist fiction in Israel, and the advent of Sephardi and Ashkenazi authors who wrote about the immigrant Sephardic community. The Heap,' prof. Shaked continues, 'has a special place in the history of Hebrew fiction because it is a neo-modernist social protest of an immigrant author.' The novel is constructed around a number of immigrants who, reflecting on their existential crisis, 'embody the archetype of human failure'.
About 40 out of Kalo's 80 titles were published during the years 2000-2011.
Few years later, Kalo broke all ties with the media and almost always refused to interview requests saying his words and ideas are mistakefully quoted by the media.
During the Kosovo Crisis in 1999 Shlomo Kalo was the most prominent Israeli intellectual who publicly protested against US and NATO military attacks on Yugoslavia.
Kalo was never involved in any academic activity outside his M.Sc studies. Some of his nonfiction works nevertheless are listed in syllabi of various courses in social sciences and humanities in Israeli universities.
Titles in various Fiction Genres:
Titles in various Nonfiction genres
Poetry:
Biographical literature
Some of Shlomo Kalo's books are translated into the following languages:
English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Greek, Malayalam, Bulgarian, Portuguese, Korean, Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian, Rumanian.
Shaked, Gershon; Miller Budick, Emily: Modern Hebrew fiction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press
, 2000. – ISBN 978-0-253-33711-5. S. 184
Royle, Nicholas: 'The Dollar and the Gun' . In: Time Out, 23 Juli 2003, S. 58
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and thinker, poet, composer and medical microbiologist who published 80 books, fiction and nonfiction. Some of his works are translated and published in 17 countries.
Biography
Shlomo Kalo was born on the 25th of February, 1928, in SofiaSofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
.
At the age of 12, Kalo joined the anti-Fascist underground in Bulgaria. Aged 15, when Bulgaria was under Nazi occupation, Kalo was imprisoned in an improvised concentration camp in Somovit..",
Aged 18, in 1946, he won a prize in a poetry competition and went to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, where he studied medicine at the Charles University, worked as a freelance journalist and wrote short stories.
When the state of Israel was founded in 1948, Shlomo Kalo joined the MAHAL ("Foreigner Volunteers": individuals outside Israel who volunteered to fight together with the Israeli forces during its war of independence) and trained as a pilot in Olomouc
Olomouc
Olomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical metropolis and historical capital city of Moravia. Nowadays, it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. In 1949, at the age of 21 he immigrated to Israel. In 1958 he was awarded M.Sc. in microbiology
Microbiology
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...
by the Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
. For 26 years and until his retirement in 1988 he worked as the regional director of medical laboratories at the General Health Services, Kupat Holim Klalit, in Rishon-leZion.
His first book in Hebrew, a short stories collection was published in 1954 by "Sifriyat Poalim".
In 1969, a sharp turn in his life occurred and was described in the last pages of his autobiographic novel "Erral". It affected his life, thoughts and literary activity ever since. Kalo wrote about it:
"First Sunday of the year 1969 A.D., twelve noon.
Body tensed like a bow-string. Not he.
Warmth rising from the region of the heart. Not he.
He stopped being what he was. He will no longer be as
he was, forever and ever, for all eternity.
He was, he is, he will be, forever and ever, for all
eternity.",
In 1979 an unformal group formed around Shlomo Kalo, known as "DAAT" (Hebrew acronym, meaning knowledge, standing for "know yourself always"), with a varying nuber of members or supporters till it disintegrated in 2009. Some known and influential journalist and artists (Shlomo Bar-Aba, Odetta Schwarts, Rivka Zohar) were associated at times with the group. However Kalo's many books, influenced even individuals who never met their author.
In 2009 Israeli Newspaper Ha'aretz reported that rumours were persistent that Shlomo Kalo was among few Israeli writers who had been shortlisted for the receiving of the Nobel Prize for Literature, similar reports were made by other news sites in 2010.
Shlomo Kalo is married to Rivka Zohar-Kalo, a prominent Israeli singer, who performs and records, among others, songs he has written (music and lyrics).
Literary activity
During the 1960s two more literary works of his were published by "Am Oved" to much acclaim of readers and critics. In 1969 he established a publishing house named DAT Publication, from which he retired after a few years, though he chose to publish most of his following titles with this house. During the 1970s he translated into Hebrew the classical writings of Far-Eastern schools such as: Patanjeli's Yoga verses, The Bhagavadgita, Budha's Dhamapada, Tao-Te-Ching and more. During these years and mainly during the 1980s Kalo published original nonfiction titles addressing philosophical, moral and spiritual topics (two out of his seven volumes of discourses were published in this decade). Few other titles were literary fiction with a philosophical line ("The Self as Fighter", "The Gospel of the Absolute Free Will" and the novel "As the Scarlet Thread"). much of his music and songs were written in this period.During the two decades that followed Kalo continued to write prolifically and in a variety of genres and styles. in the 1990s his first titles written in a newly introduced genre "The documented stories" were published ("Forevermore" and "Moments of Truth") and one of his best selling titles, an historical novel titled "The Chosen" was printed in first edition. During these two decades translation rights of some of his books were sold in 17 countries.
Short stories written by Shlomo Kalo were published by literary magazines in Israel, as well as by literary supplements of large newspapers. Some of his stories were included in various anthologies celebrating Israel's Jubilee year and other occasions.
Prof. Gershon Shaked (Hebrew University) maintains in his study Modern Fiction (Indiana University, 2000; p 102-3) that Kalo's book The Heap marked 'two turning points in Hebrew Literary History; the beginning of modernist fiction in Israel, and the advent of Sephardi and Ashkenazi authors who wrote about the immigrant Sephardic community. The Heap,' prof. Shaked continues, 'has a special place in the history of Hebrew fiction because it is a neo-modernist social protest of an immigrant author.' The novel is constructed around a number of immigrants who, reflecting on their existential crisis, 'embody the archetype of human failure'.
About 40 out of Kalo's 80 titles were published during the years 2000-2011.
Other activities
1988 was the year when the extensive media exposure of Shlomo Kalo's contemplative and spiritual lifework began. Since that time, messages and solutions to a variety of issues have been both aired by national TV and radio channels, and widely covered by the press.Few years later, Kalo broke all ties with the media and almost always refused to interview requests saying his words and ideas are mistakefully quoted by the media.
During the Kosovo Crisis in 1999 Shlomo Kalo was the most prominent Israeli intellectual who publicly protested against US and NATO military attacks on Yugoslavia.
Kalo was never involved in any academic activity outside his M.Sc studies. Some of his nonfiction works nevertheless are listed in syllabi of various courses in social sciences and humanities in Israeli universities.
Details about Kalo's books
Some of Kalo's titles in English translation:- The Dollar and the Gun (theme connected stories), Calder Publications, UK
- The Self as Fighter (literary fiction, bordering philosophy), St. Pauls Publications, UK (Lrlgarian edition, 1998, ISBN 954-533-028-7)
- The Chosen (historical novel), D.A.T. publications
- Lili (novel), D.A.T. Publications
- Erral (autobiographical novel), D.A.T. Publications
- Athar (autobiographical novel), D.A.T. Publications
- The Trousers - Parables for the 21st Century (parables collection), D.A.T. Publications
- Forevermore (documented stories), D.A.T. Publications
Titles in various Fiction Genres:
- 1954: Kuhim BeYafo (Hebrew כוכים ביפו)
- 1962: ha-ʻAremah (Hebrew (הערימה
- 1966: Lev ha-baśar (Hebrew (לב הבשר
- 1979: ha-ʻAtsmi ke-loḥem (Hebrew (העצמי כלוחם
- 1983: Meshalim (Hebrew משלים)
- 1985: Masaʻ Atos (Hebrew מסע אתוס)
- 1987: Beśorat ha-ratson ha-ḥofshi ha-muḥlaṭ (Hebrew בשורת הרצון החופשי המוחלט)
- 1988: Ke-ḥuṭ ha-shani (Hebrew כחוט השני)
- 1990: Shekheneha shel dodati Rashel (Hebrew שכניה של דודתי ראשל)
- 1990: Ben kokhav aḥer (Hebrew בן כוכב אחר)
- 1991: ʻAlilotaṿ ha-muflaʼot shel Loiṭenlib le-Vet Meyunkhaʼuzen (Hebrew עלילותיו המופלאות של לויטנליב לבית מיונכאוזן)
- 1993: Melekh u-shemo ahavah (Hebrew מלך ושמו אהבה)
- 1994: ha-Nivḥar (Hebrew הנבחר)
- 1995: ʻAd ʻolam (Hebrew עד עולם)
- 1995: Regaʻim shel emet (Hebrew רגעים של אמת)
- 1996: ha-Mikhnasayim (Hebrew המכנסיים)
- 1999: ha-Dolar ṿeha-eḳdaḥ (Hebrew הדולר והאקדח)
- 2000: Ḥaṭifah (Hebrew חטיפה)
- 2002: ʻAd sheha-maṿet yeḥaber benehem (Hebrew עד שהמוות יחבר ביניהם)
- 2003: Samurai : shaḥ maṭ (Hebrew סמוראי)
- 2003: Shenat arbaʻ-ʻeśreh la-sefirah she-lo heḥelah (Hebrew שנת ארבע־עשרה לספירה שלא החלה)
- 2004: Pashuṭ (Hebrew פירוש)
- 2005: Thriller (Hebrew Thriller)
- 2006: Mifgashim (Hebrew מפגשים)
- 2006: Mishpaḥat Ṿais (Hebrew משפחת וייס)
- 2007: Migrash ḥanayah (Hebrew מגרש חניה)
- 2007: Shete novelot (Hebrew שתי נובלות)
- 2008: Ḥarig (Hebrew חריג)
- 2008: Lili (Hebrew לילי)
- 2008: Shaʻare ha-barzel ha-ʻatiḳim (Hebrew שערי הברזל העתיקים)
- 2009: ha-Na'ar ha-Hungari (Hebrew הנער ההונגרי)
- 2009: Trepan (Hebrew (טראפן
- 2009: Tisis (Hebrew טיסיס)
- 2009: Jenny (Hebrew ג'ני)
- 2010: Jewish Faust - A play in one act (Hebrew פאוסט היהודי)
- 2011: No Complaints (Hebrew אין תלונות)
Titles in various Nonfiction genres
- 1974: Zen ṿe-ḥakhme zen. Translation. (Hebrew (זן וחכמי זן
- 1976: Shir ha-Elohim The Bhagavad Gita. Translation.
- 1981: ʻAśui li-veli ḥat (Hebrew (עשוי לבלי חת
- 1982: Du-śiaḥ shel ḥerut (Hebrew (דו־שיח של חרות
- 1984: Atah hinkha atah (Hebrew (אתה הנך אתה
- 1984: Maʻagal ha-ʻotsmah ha-Ṭibeṭi. Translation, retold (Hebrew (מעגל העוצמה הטיבטי
- 1985: Omanut ha-milḥamah le-ḥerut-emet (Hebrew (אמנות המלחמה לחרות־אמת
- 1988: Yedidai
- 1989: ha-Emet hi ḥedṿah (Hebrew (האמת היא חדווה
- 1990: Ahavah menatsaḥat kol (Hebrew (אהבה מנצחת כל
- 1991: Le-hatḥil ha-kol me-ḥadash (Hebrew (להתחיל הכל מחדש
- 1993: Gam lo bi-fene ʻatsmekha (Hebrew (גם לא בפני עצמך
- 1996: ha-Dimui(Hebrew הדימוי)
- 1996: Ṿe-hineh hu ba (Hebrew (והנה הוא בא
- 1997: ha-Enʼonim ke-mashal (Hebrew (האינאונים כמשל
- 1997: ha-Matat she-lo hikhzivah (Hebrew (המתת שלא הכזיבה
- 1999: Le-lo perush ṿe-tosafot (Hebrew (ללא פירוש ותוספות
- 1999: Masaʻʼel (Hebrew (מסעאל
- 2000: Har ha-osher (Hebrew (הר האושר
- 2000: Teshuvot (Hebrew (תשובות
- 2001: ʻIm G'uliʼan (Hebrew (עם ג׳וליאן
- 2002: Ḳandar (Hebrew (קנדר
- 2002: Ḳav hafrada (Hebrew (קו הפרדה
- 2003: Matemaṭiḳah rom (Hebrew (מתמטיקה רום
- 2004: Kata (Hebrew (קטה
- 2007: ha-Hebeṭ ha-aḥer (Hebrew (ההיבט האחר
- 2007: Ḳatedralah (Hebrew קתדרלה)
- 2007: Hitnatslut (Hebrew (התנצלות
- 2009: Hevel Ure'ut Ru'ah (Hebrew הבל ורעות רוח)
Poetry:
- 2006: 18 Hagihim(Hebrew שמונה-עשר הגיחים)
- 2008: Hagihim II(Hebrew (הגיחים 2
- 2008: Shirei Herut - complete edition with music notes and CD (Hebrew (שירי חרות
- 2011: Hagihim III (Hebrew הגיחים 3)
Biographical literature
- 2001: Athar (Hebrew אטאר)
- 2004: ʻErʻal (Hebrew ערעל)
Some of Shlomo Kalo's books are translated into the following languages:
English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Greek, Malayalam, Bulgarian, Portuguese, Korean, Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian, Rumanian.
Sources
DAT Publications' archiveShaked, Gershon; Miller Budick, Emily: Modern Hebrew fiction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press
Indiana University Press
Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. It was founded in 1950. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana....
, 2000. – ISBN 978-0-253-33711-5. S. 184
Royle, Nicholas: 'The Dollar and the Gun' . In: Time Out, 23 Juli 2003, S. 58