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George Barker, miscellaneous literary papers and letters

Archive Collection: BC MS 20c Barker

Details

Type of record: Archive

Title: George Barker, miscellaneous literary papers and letters

Level: Collection

Classmark: BC MS 20c Barker

Creator(s): Barker, George (1913-1991)()

Date(s): 1935-1987

Language: English

Size and medium: 8 items, all held in 1 box, manuscript, typescript, and printed material (photocopy).

Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/7288

Collection group(s): English Literature

Description

Comprises:

(1) 3 letters to or from George Barker, including 1 undated and 2 dated 1977 and 1981 respectively, held in an envelope with typed drafts of his 'Critical sonnet for William Shakespeare', including manuscript corrections;

(2) Typescript draft, with manuscript annotations, of 'The True Confession of George Barker', October 47;

(3) Incomplete and unsigned letter by George Barker to Ralph Abercrombie on the death of Dylan Thomas, with an envelope postmarked 'Haslemere, 25 May, 1954';

(4) Manuscript essay by Paul Potts on Barker, entitled, 'The world of George Barker', together with a photocopy of the same as published in Poetry Quarterly, Vol.10, no.2 (Summer 1948), pp. 91-97;

(5) Typed letter from Barker to Mrs Bland written from Zennor, October 18, n.y.;

(6) Page proofs of 'Poems', by Barker, dated 1935, with autograph manuscript revisions;

(7) Memorandum book containing manuscript poems, including drafts of various elegies, together with a photocopy of a letter from Barker to Miss O'Hagan dated 18 November 1987 inserted at the beginning; (8) Another smaller black-covered notebook containing 'Anno Domini' manuscript poems.

(9) 'Letter addressed to the corpse of Eliot', 7pp, reprinted from The Texas Quarterly, Spring 1968 and featuring a MS dedication on the inside cover to 'Tom' and dated Jan 1969.

(10) typed letter to Miss Tina May Walton, from Bintry House, Itteringham, Aylsham, Norfolk Dated 22 Mar 1979.

(11) Typewritten 'Extract of autobiographical journal by Tom Scott, written during the early 1960s, and containing reminiscences of poets he had met in London after the war' 3ff

Biography or history

George Granville Barker (1913-1991), the English poet, was born in Essex. He taught in Japan and the United States as well as in England. His highly dramatic poems, often concerned with themes of remorse and pain, led critics to place him, perhaps misleadingly, among the 'New Apocalypse' movement. Barker's published works include: '30 Preliminary Poems' (1933); 'Eros in Dogma' (1944); 'News of the World' (1950); 'The True Confession of George Barker' (1950); 'The View From a Blind I' (1962); 'Thurgarton Church' (1969); 'The Alphabetical Zoo' (1972); and 'Collected Poems' (1987).

Access and usage

Access

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