Horváth, John, Jr. 1948-

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HORVÁTH, John, Jr. 1948-

PERSONAL: Born January 12, 1948, in East Chicago, IN; son of John (Janos) Horváth and Elizabeth Mitro (divorced); married July 12, 1982; wife's name C. K.; children: Anisa M. I., Bronco D. G., Janos A. V., Elgin L. P. Education: Peabody Teachers College of Vanderbilt University, B.A.; Florida State University, M.A., Ph.D. Religion: "Eastern Orthodox Christian."

ADDRESSES: Home—Melrose, MS. Agent—c/o Author Mail, EBookstand, 1170 Mukilteo Speedway, Suite 201, Mukilteo, WA 98275. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Poet, editor, and author. Formerly worked as a steel-mill mechanic. Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS, professor of literature and criticism and chair, department of English, 1992-97. Military service: U.S. Army (SF/AB).

MEMBER: Nupedia (member of advisory board).

AWARDS, HONORS: Ford Foundation nominee, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 1997, for teaching/research.

WRITINGS:

Cain' Country: A Volume of Oral Poetry, Possible Tape Exchange, 1977.

Illiana Region Poems: Harboring the Enemy, Zebooks, c. 2000.

Conus: The First Tour (chapbook), Magnum, 2001.

(With others) Reverend Terrebonne (poetry performance; CD), Artvilla, 2002.

Editor, PoetryRepairShop (online), 1997—; poetry editor, Amateur Poetry Journal, 1999-2000. Contributor of poetry to print and online periodicals.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Twelve Greatest Poems of John Horváth, Pudding House, 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: John Horváth, Jr. told CA: "Writing from 'inside the sinner'—the biographical, not autobiographical—where a poet's empathy and sympathy render the observed more open to discussion, more human, and perhaps more dignified, I create social narratives that lend purpose and drama to daily, 'meaningless' acts. My technique is 'sprung rhythm': I pen my ideas; revise into traditional metrics/rhymes (not necessarily English); then, I revise into a narrative, free verse/lyric. Thus, I explore and distance myself from the subject because, as Plato noted, 'Poetry endangers the established order of the soul.' Poetry must endanger, so a poet must use care. I started performing poetry as a Munich, Germany, street poet in the late 1960s. Then I would create characters/personae to entertain the audience. I blended this with story-telling at the suggestion of a friend who heard me perform in London, England.

"Since the mid-1970s my work has taken two paths. The first, ethnic poetry that tells the tale of 1950s immigrants to America, the pressures to Americanize and to resist becoming 'commonplace.' Many of these poems draw from my personal experience of 'second wave' immigrant status: feeling at once American, being a U.S. citizen, yet being foreign to others, a foreigner in the soul. The second path is the regional poetry (primarily set in the American South) that focuses on the village idiot or outsider, a situation I find common to being a 'peasant' in European literatures. I have also spent time in the military and in Veterans Administration hospitals (I'm a disabled vet who suffers chronic pain since 1991). From these experiences I write about soldiers and their deeds, heroes and heroics discarded and forgotten. The greatest influence on a writer is always reading. I am a strong advocate for close analytical formal reading in education and throughout a poet's life."