Paging: Locus Solus

Locus Solus was a short-lived literary magazine: only four issues, published from 1961 to 1962. It was edited by Harry Mathews, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, and James Schuyler, and each contributed to it. Schuyler edited the first issue. 

The name Locus Solus (“solitary place”) was taken from a Surrealist novel by Raymond Roussel (1877-1933).It reflects the aesthetics of the editors, who are now known as the “New York School,” but at the time were challenging the conservatism of the fifties and T.S. Eliot’s religious frame to literary criticism. The inside cover has a quote from Roussel, “L’écriteau bref qui s’offre à l’œil apitoyé.” [The brief sign that meets the pitying eye.]

Issue 1 of Locus Solus. (Shown in actual size)

The contents of a specific issue (issue #1)provide a snapshot of what was considered the avant-garde edge of literary expression at the time (or one of the edges, anyway) and are loosely connected to other threads of artistic endeavors, especially Abstract Expressionism. 

This table of contents / cover is a good glance into the literary world of 64 years ago: all white, mostly male; Barbara Guest and Anne Porter are the exceptions. Some of the contributors, like Frank O’Hara, are well-known. Others, like Ebbe Borregaard, are not at all known.