Guest, Barbara 1920–2006

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born September 6, 1920, in Wilmington, NC; died of complications following several strokes, February 15, 2006, in Berkeley, CA. Guest was a critically acclaimed poet of the New York School, which came into prominence in the 1950s. She attended the University of California at Los Angeles before transferring to the Berkeley campus, where she completed an English degree in 1943. Moving to New York City, she was an editorial associate for Art News magazine in the early 1950s. Guest first was interested in poetry while in college; she was inspired all the more after her move to New York City. Here she was exposed to the art scene, and, like other poets of the New York School, was influenced by abstract expressionists such as Jackson Pollock, but also by such authors as Henry Miller, whom she had met while in California. Taking cues from this style of art, Guest wrote in unrhymed verses that explored the use of white space on the page for effect. After initial critical acclaim and popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, Guest receded from the spotlight for a time. However, in the 1990s she gained a new generation of fans. Winning a Laurence Lipton prize in literature in 1990, a San Francisco State award for poetry in 1994, and the Robert Frost Medal for lifetime achievement in 1999, she was appreciated for writing verses that allude to everything from literature and mythology to history. The poet herself, however, would say that how she used words was often more important than what they said. Also the author of plays and the experimental novel Seeking Air (1978), Guest turned out more than a dozen poem collections. Among her books are The Blue Stairs (1968), Biography (1981), Defensive Rapture (1993), and Stripped Tales (1995).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, March 5, 2006, section 4, p. 5.

Los Angeles Times, March 10, 2006, p. Bll.

New York Times, March 4, 2006, p. A13.

Times (London, England), April 15, 2006, p. 67.