Harry Hooton

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Henry (Harry) Arthur Hooton (9 October 1908—1961) was an Australian poet and anarchist.[1]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Hooton was an Australian poet and philosopher ahead of his time. He was part of the libertarian Sydney Push in Sydney during the 1950s, with connections to many of the poets and writers active in Australian Literature of the time.

Hooton was born in Upper Doncaster, Yorkshire, England. At the age of 16 he arrived in Sydney on 28 October 1924, on the ship Demosthenes as part of an Empire scheme, the Dreadnought Trust, with fifty-nine other boys. After humping his swag around much of New South Wales and Queensland through the Great Depression, in 1936, just as his first pieces of writing were being published, Hooton was introduced to the poet Marie E. J. Pitt living in Melbourne and carried on a correspondence for the next eight years.

Hooton's first book of poetry, These Poets, appeared in 1941, published at his own expense in a small print run of up to 400 copies, most of which Hooton either gave away or swapped. It struck a chord with readers, receiving a wide degree of critical acclaim.

In 1943 Hooton met the authors Nettie Palmer and Miles Franklin while they were travelling through Newcastle. Through Miles Franklin he was introduced to the writings of Carl Sandburg and the American literary scene. Moving to Sydney in 1943 Hooton submitted a book of poems titled Leave Yourself Alone to a publisher without success. Later he self published Things You See When You Haven't Got A Gun. In a new magazine untitled, unpretentious and called simply No. 1., the poetry of Hooton, A. D. Hope, and Gary Lyle was featured. Hooton and Hope also featured in No. 2.

Hooton's Things You See When You Haven't Cot A Gun was reviewed by Max Harris in one line in the Ern Malley issue of Angry Penguins, 'Our anarchist bull careers madly through his intellectual fog.'

Living in Sydney after World War II Hooton moved in similar intellectual circles as Professor John Anderson, attracted to intellectual discourse and philosophical debate. Both exerted certain influences on the crowd of young intellectuals that became known as the Sydney Push.

A prominent member Germaine Greer was to cite his notable influence on 'the push' and herself some years later: Harry, the Utopian anarchist who had admired her red stockings, who believed people were perfect and who was not weighed down by the tremendous forces the anarchistic pessimists felt bore down on them all the time. 'Alas, I understand him much better now,' she said twenty years later. "... but I think a lot of the things I've done since I've done out of a desire to please Harry Hooton....." [2]

While Hooton was living a very bohemian life in Sydney he was also connecting with literary people in Japan, India, Greece, South Africa, England, France, New Zealand, the USA. Hooton had corresponded with counter-culture figures in California, and with Tuli Kupferberg, later to form the nihilist rock group The Fugs.

Hooton never completed his philosophical treatise, titled Militant Materialism, though he did complete five of its eight chapters. His ideas were magically simple. Leave man alone, man is perfect. Concentrate instead on matter. He formulated what he called 'The Politics of Things'.

Hooton saw proof copies of his last book, It Is Great To Be Alive, published by Margaret Elliot, just before he died in 1961 of cancer.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Poet of the 21st Century - Collected Poems - Harry Hooton. Edited by Sasha Soldatow (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1990) ISBN 0207166463

[edit] References

  1. ^ Harry Hooton (1908-1961) Poet and philosopher of the 21st Century by Sasha Soldatow
  2. ^ Christine Wallace, Untamed Shrew (1997) p. 94

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Hooton, Harry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Twentieth century Australian poet and anarchist
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Upper Doncaster, Yorkshire, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH 1961
PLACE OF DEATH Sydney, New South Wales, Australia