Shlomo Kalo - Literary Activity

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.