Solita Solano (October 30, 1888 – November 22, 1975), born Sarah Wilkinson, was an American writer, poet and journalist.

Biography

Early life

Sarah Wilkinson came from a middle-class family and attended the

Emma Willard School The Emma Willard School, originally called Troy Female Seminary and often referred to simply as Emma, is an independent university-preparatory day and boarding school for young women, located in Troy, New York, on Mount Ida, offering grades 9– ...

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany ...

. After the death of her father, she left home and married her childhood sweetheart Oliver Filley. They spent the next four years in the Philippines, China and Japan, where her husband worked as an engineer. They returned to New York in 1908, where she started work as a theatre critic and drama editor with the ''

New-York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...

'' and as a freelance contributor to the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, an ...

. At this time she changed her name to ''Solita Solano''.

Career and relationships

In 1919, Solano got to know the journalist

Janet Flanner Janet Flanner (March 13, 1892 – November 7, 1978) was an American writer and pioneering narrative journalist who served as the Paris correspondent of ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1925 until she retired in 1975.Yagoda, Ben ''About T ...

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

with whom she started a relationship. In 1921 they travelled to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

, where Janet was to work on a report for National Geographic on

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

. Solano had three books published, and as they were not very successful, returned to journalism. In 1922, they travelled to France, and in Paris joined the intellectual-lesbian circle of

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...

and Alice B. Toklas,

Natalie Clifford Barney Natalie Clifford Barney (October 31, 1876 – February 2, 1972) was an American writer who hosted a literary salon at her home in Paris that brought together French and international writers. She influenced other authors through her salon and a ...

Romaine Brooks Romaine Brooks (born Beatrice Romaine Goddard; May 1, 1874 – December 7, 1970) was an American painter who worked mostly in Paris and Capri. She specialized in portrait painting, portraiture and used a subdued tonal Palette (painting), palette ...

and

Djuna Barnes Djuna Barnes (, June 12, 1892 – June 18, 1982) was an American artist, illustrator, journalist, and writer who is perhaps best known for her novel ''Nightwood'' (1936), a cult classic of lesbian fiction and an important work of modernist liter ...

. In 1929, Solano had an affair with Margaret Anderson, founder of

The Little Review ''The Little Review'', an American literary magazine founded by Margaret Anderson in Chicago's historic Fine Arts Building, published literary and art work from 1914 to May 1929. With the help of Jane Heap and Ezra Pound, Anderson created a m ...

, who had come to Paris with her lover, French singer

Georgette Leblanc Georgette Leblanc (8 February 1869, Rouen – 27 October 1941, Le Cannet) was a French operatic soprano, actress, author, and the sister of novelist Maurice Leblanc. She became particularly associated with the works of Jules Massenet and w ...

. The affair lasted several years, though Anderson remained living with Leblanc.Elizabeth Jenks Clark Collection of Margaret Anderson
/ref> While in Paris, Janet Flanner started writing, under the pseudonym ''Genêt'', the ''Letter from Paris'', for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''. After the outbreak of World War II Solano and Flanner returned to New York. A few years later Solano left Flanner after Flanner started an affair with Natalia Danesi Murray; meanwhile Solano fell in love with Elizabeth Jenks Clark. Margaret Anderson got to know Clark through Solano after Clark returned to the US. Clark and Solano became Anderson's closest friends, although Anderson had in the meantime fallen in love with Dorothy Caruso, widow of the singer Enrico Caruso.

''The Rope'' (Gurdjieff group)

During the 1930s and 40s, Solano studied with G. I. Gurdjieff, and for a while acted as his secretary. She was a member of a female-only, key Gurdjieff group known as ''The Rope'', to which

Jane Heap Jane Heap (November 1, 1883 – June 18, 1964) was an American publisher and a significant figure in the development and promotion of literary modernism. Together with Margaret Anderson, her friend and business partner (who for some years was al ...

, Margaret Anderson, and

Kathryn Hulme Kathryn Hulme (July 6, 1900 – August 25, 1981) was an American author and memoirist most noted for her novel '' The Nun's Story''. The book is often misunderstood to be semi-autobiographical. Writing Her 1956 book ''The Nun's Story'' wa ...

also belonged. After Gurdjieff's death in 1949, Solano became the focal point for members of The Rope until her own death. Her notes of Gurdjieff's meetings with ''The Rope'' are a remarkable record of his personality and method.Baker, Rob.
No Harem. Gurdjieff and the Women of The Rope
" Gurdjieff International Review

Later life and death

After the war Solano returned to France, where she died at the age of 87.

References

Sources

* Berenice Abbott: ''Portrait of Solita Solano'', Parasol Press, Ltd. (1981) * William Patrick Patterson: ''Ladies of the Rope: Gurdjieff's Special Left Bank Women's Group'', Arete Pubns (1998) * Andrea Weiss: ''Paris war eine Frau'', Rowohlt (1998) * Gabriele Griffin: ''Who's Who in Lesbian and Gay and Writing'', Routledge, London (2002)

External links

*
1915 passport photo
at

flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and profession ...

Visual materials from the Janet Flanner and Solita Solano papers,

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

* *https://findingaids.loc.gov/ead3mets/pnp/2020/pp020014.xml *
Photographs of Janet Flanner and Solita Solano, their families, friends, and career associates

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(Some may not be online) {{DEFAULTSORT:Solano, Solita 1888 births 1975 deaths American women poets Emma Willard School alumni American LGBT poets American LGBT journalists LGBT people from New York (state) Writers from Troy, New York Journalists from New York (state) American expatriates in France 20th-century American poets American women journalists 20th-century American women writers Death in France 20th-century American non-fiction writers Students of George Gurdjieff