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Barbara Guest

Barbara Guest on LINEbreak with Charles Bernstein (1995, recorded in NY)

  1. introduction (0:52): MP3
  2. A Reason (1:09): MP3
  3. on the New York Poets and their relation to painting (3:31): MP3
  4. Parachutes, My Love, Could Carry Us Higher (1:39): MP3
  5. Niege Fondant (1:51): MP3
  6. on how her work has changed (0:42): MP3
  7. on imagination (2:16): MP3
  8. on realism (1:30): MP3
  9. An Emphasis Falls on Reality (2:45): MP3
  10. on how her books connect (0:36): MP3
  11. Wild Gardens Overlooked by Night Lights (4:08): MP3
  12. on her identity as a woman (2:00): MP3
  13. Borderlands (2:04): MP3
  14. Multiplicity (2:58): MP3
complete program (29:01): mp3
transcript of LINEbreak show at Jacket2

PoemTalk Podcast #24, discussing Guest's "Roses," October 19, 2009

Listen to the complete recording and read program notes for the episode at Jacket2.

Kathleen Fraser Interviews Hadley Guest about Barbara Guest, Berkeley, July 17, 2007

  1. introduction (0:23): MP3
  2. Hadley Guest reading "The Next Floor" by Barbara Guest (0:51): MP3
  3. Kathleen Fraser on being introduced to Barbara Guest and her work (13:46): MP3
  4. Barbara Guest's friendship with painters (9:33): MP3
  5. Hadley Guest on growing up around poets and painters (5:15): MP3
  6. the division between uptown and downtown in the New York art world in the 60s (12:31): MP3
  7. Barbara Guest's refusal to be pigeon-holed (2:23): MP3
  8. the cruelty of the downtown scene and Barbara Guest's intentional erasure (18:31): MP3
  9. Hadley Guest on living with Barbara during the last few years of her life and hearing about her first marriage to John Dudley (7:18): MP3
  10. Trumbull Higgins and social position in relation to money (11:33): MP3
  11. Barbara's uptown studio and her strong family feelings (16:55): MP3
  12. Barbara's shared apartment with Perdita Schaffner and her experience working and walking around Union Square (5:00): MP3
  13. productivity, freedom, and moving west (4:15): MP3
  14. Stephen Guest and introducing Barbara Guest to H.D. (15:35): MP3
  15. Barbara's work on H.D. (12:27): MP3
  16. Barbara's awareness of women writers, her relation to feminism, and her commitment to being a wife and mother as well as a poet (15:29): MP3
complete recording (2:31:56): MP3

Susan Gevirtz Interviews Hadley Guest about Barbara Guest, Berkeley, May 9, 2007

  • part 1 (30:44): MP3
  • part 2 (46:42): MP3
  • part 3 (15:32): MP3

Barbara Guest Praise Day Tribute at The Bowery Poetry Club, October 21, 2006

with special guest Hadley Haden Guest and host Kristin Prevallet

Introduction by Kristin Prevallet (2:32): MP3

Lytle Shaw (13:52): MP3

  1. introduction by Kristin Prevallet (0:36): MP3
  2. Santa Fe Trail (2:39): MP3
  3. Parade's End (0:55): MP3
  4. Nebraska (2:23): MP3
  5. from Herself Defined: H.D. and her World (2:25): MP3
  6. Activities (1:47): MP3

Lewis Warsh (6:51): MP3

  1. introduction by Kristin Prevallet (0:32): MP3
  2. discussing The New American Poetry and "Parachutes" (3:50): MP3
  3. Parachutes, My Love, Could Carry Us Higher (0:57): MP3
  4. discussing "Santa Fe Trail" (1:26): MP3

Marcella Durand (7:47): MP3

  1. introduction by Kristin Prevallet (0:40): MP3
  2. Invisible Architecture (3:25): MP3
  3. discussing "Invisible Architecture" (0:38): MP3
  4. The Poetess (0:49): MP3
  5. An Emphasis Falls on Reality (2:11): MP3

Charles Bernstein (14:58): MP3

  1. introduction by Kristin Prevallet (0:38): MP3
  2. remembering Barbara Guest (4:32): MP3
  3. Composing Herself (Bookforum, April 2006; Jacket 29) (9:47): MP3

Africa Wayne (12:18): MP3

  1. introduction by Kristin Prevallet (0:26): MP3
  2. on her friendship with Barbara Guest (1:37): MP3
  3. Turkey Villas (3:30): MP3
  4. A Reason (0:55): MP3
  5. on listening to Barbara Guest read (0:43): MP3
  6. The Farewell Stairway (3:31): MP3
  7. Negative Possibility (1:09): MP3

Charles North (8:53): MP3

  1. introduction by Kristin Prevallet (0:44): MP3
  2. on his relationship with Barbara Guest (3:09): MP3
  3. Another July (1:01): MP3
  4. Roses (1:19): MP3
  5. The Location of Things (2:20): MP3

Erica Kaufman (7:42): MP3

  1. introduction by Kristin Prevallet (0:45): MP3
  2. from Seeking Air (4:35): MP3
  3. on Barbara Guest's work (0:51): MP3
  4. from Confetti Trees (1:27): MP3

conclusion (6:19): MP3

complete reading (1:18:40): MP3

Reading from The Red Gaze

The Red Gaze (Wesleyan University Press, 2004)

Recorded for PennSound by Allan Graham, Berkeley, April 7, 2004:

  1. Nostalgia of the Infinite (1:39) [titled "Nostalgia" in the book]: MP3
  2. An Afternoon in Jeopardy (1:24): MP3
  3. Imagined Room (0:57): MP3
  4. She Honors De Chirico (0:54) [title changed to "Loneliness" for the book]: MP3
  5. A Different Honey (0:39): MP3
  6. A Short Narrative (0:29): MP3
  7. Roman Stripes (0:56): MP3
  8. The Next Floor (1:02): MP3
  9. Freedom (0:43): MP3
  10. The Hungry Knight (0:35): MP3
  11. The Trickster (0:44): MP3
  12. The Past (0:31): MP3
  13. Modernism (0:46): MP3
  14. A Burst of Leaves (0:35): MP3
  15. The Smooth Stair (0:49): MP3
  16. Alteration (0:32): MP3
  17. Freed Color (1:35): MP3
  18. Green Numbers (0:50): MP3
  19. The Brown Vest (0:39): MP3
  20. The Gold Tap (0:22): MP3
  21. The Red Gaze (0:45): MP3
  22. A Dawn Walk (0:36): MP3
  23. Untitled (0:23) [on p. 36 of the book]: MP3
  24. Hans Hofmann (2:26) [slightly longer than the published version]: MP3
  25. Vignettes (0:26) [one line shorter than version published in the book]: MP3
  26. Echoes (0:20) [one line shorter than version published in the book]: MP3
  27. Instructions (0:29): MP3
  28. Composition (0:41): MP3
  29. Supposition (0:15): MP3
  30. [quotation from Theodor Adorno] (0:16) [the book's epigraph]: MP3

Segue Series Reading at the Ear Inn, October 2, 1993

complete reading (30:59): MP3

Reading and lecture/discussion at SUNY-Buffalo - April 1 & 2, 1992

poetry reading - April 1

Entire reading (43:50): MP3

  1. The Nude (8:02) [from Fair Realism, 1989; CP, p. 238]: MP3
  2. The Farewell Stairway (3:15) [from Fair Realism; CP, p. 232]: MP3
  3. An Emphasis Falls on Reality (2:37) [from Fair Realism; CP, p. 221]: MP3; text
  4. Heavy Violets (0:46) [from Fair Realism; CP, p. 232]: MP3
  5. The Cradle of Culture (2:08) [from Fair Realism; CP, p. 250]: MP3
  6. Otranto (6:38) [from Defensive Rapture, 1993; CP, p. 300]: MP3
  7. Dove (2:26) [from Defensive Rapture; CP, p. 261]: MP3
  8. Defensive Rapture (2:33) [from Defensive Rapture; CP, p. 277]: MP3
  9. Borderlands (1:57) [from Defensive Rapture; CP, p. 288]: MP3
  10. Winter Horses (2:04) [from Defensive Rapture; CP, p. 304]: MP3
  11. The Glass Mountain (3:17) [from Defensive Rapture; CP, p. 295]: MP3
  12. Earrings (1:17) [Note: This poem, beginning "Running over the edge...," is not in Collected and might be unpublished.]: MP3
  13. Dissonance, Royal Traveller (4:10) [from Defensive Rapture; CP, p. 289]: MP3

lecture and seminar discussion - April 2, 1992

  • I. Lecture titled "How I Got out of Poetry and into Prose" (20:24): MP3
  • II. Seminar discussion (1:37:35): MP3
  • [Note: This recording drops out once at 0:26:00 minutes and again and 1:13:00 when cassette was flipped or changed during recording.]

St. Mark's Talks, March 23, 1986

  • "Mysteriously Speaking of the Mysterious Byzantine Proposals of the Poem"

  • introduction (2:48): MP3
  • talk by Barbara Guest (24:59): MP3
  • discussion (54:21): MP3

Segue Series Reading at the Ear Inn, January 25, 1986

  • Howe, Owen, and Einzing read Barbara Guest's poetry
  • complete reading (30:27): MP3

The Location of Things, Studio Recording, May 1984 (reading from poems dated 1960 to 1979)

[Note: The Location of Things is the title of Guest's 1960 volume; this commercial recording included readings from that book and others.]

  1. Windy Afternoon (0:49) [Collected Poems, p. 8]: MP3
  2. The Piazza (1:52) [titled "Piazzas," CP, p. 4]: MP3
  3. Santa Fe Trail (1:23) [in The Open Skies, CP p. 49]: MP3
  4. Sunday Evening (1:10) [CP, p. 13]: MP3
  5. The Blue Stairs (2:13) [from The Blue Stairs, CP, p. 61]: MP3
  6. Saving Tallow (1:46) [from The Blue Stairs, CP, p. 71]: MP3
  7. The Return of the Muses (2:15) [CP, p. 72]: MP3
  8. A Handbook of Surfing (9:55) [CP, p. 85]: MP3
  9. Turkey Villas (2:22) [CP, p. 64]: MP3
  10. Egypt (1:15) [from Moscow Mansions, CP, p. 100]: MP3
  11. Roses (1:20) [CP, p. 128]: MP3
  12. Passage (for John Coltrane) (1:21) [CP, p. 130]: MP3 : text
  13. Knight of the Swan (11:42) [CP, p. 108]: MP3
  14. The Countess from Minneapolis (excerpts) (8:29) [CP, pp. 143-66]: MP3
  15. The Turler Losses (excerpts) (9:25) [CP, p. 169-182]: MP3

Credits for The Location of Things:

Selections 1-4, Poems, Doubleday and Company, Inc. Selections 5-9, The Blue Stairs, Corinth Books. Selections 10-13, Moscow Mansions, A Richard Seaver Book/The Viking Press. Selection 14, The Countess from Minneapolis, Burning Deck. Selection 15, The Turler Losses, Mansfield Book Mart Ltd. Copyright © 1962, 1968, 1973, 1976, 1979 by Barbara Guest.

Recording History: All selections were recorded at Artist's Access Studio, New York, New York, May, 1984 Producer: Anne Becker Recording Engineer: Peter Darmi Post Prod. Engineers: Anne Becker & Katherin Mattern Executive Producer: Alan Austin

Appearing on Susan Howe's Poetry Program on WBAI-Pacifica Radio, April 13, 1978

  1. Red Lilies (1:08): MP3
  2. on her childhood and when she started to write (1:47): MP3
  3. on Stephen Guest and H.D. (2:40): MP3
  4. on using a male persona in Seeking Air (2:42): MP3
  5. "I don't think I could stand the noise of this city a day longer..." [excerpt, from Seeking Air] (1:55): MP3
  6. on Wide Sargasso Sea (0:24): MP3
  7. "Night wind blowing from the north..." [excerpt, from Seeking Air] (1:47): MP3
  8. on her interest in colonial life (1:25): MP3
  9. "Dark, indeed, must have always been mixed..." [excerpt, from Seeking Air] (2:12): MP3
  10. "I think of the sallow-skinned men..." [excerpt, from Seeking Air] (1:01): MP3
  11. on George Seferis (1:18): MP3
  12. "It was like driving a ball from behind that clump of grass..." [excerpt, from Seeking Air] (4:55): MP3
  13. on the difference between writing novels and poetry (2:00): MP3
  14. on biography, autobiography, and Ford Madox's The Good Soldier (2:09): MP3
  15. on breaking down the old idea of hero and heroine (0:59): MP3
  16. on the process of working on an autobiography of H.D. (5:52): MP3
  17. on particular writers who have been important to her (1:11): MP3

complete program (1:06:31): MP3

Appearing with John Ashbery on P.E.N. Portraits, hosted by Anne Fremantle, WNYC, May 22, 1977

  1. introduction (3:42): MP3
  2. responding to Emily Dickinson's statement that some words made her want to take off her hat to them (3:38): MP3
  3. fondness of particular words (3:18): MP3
  4. commenting on teaching poetry (1:19): MP3
  5. John Ashbery reading "And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name" (1:54): MP3
  6. John Ashbery reading "What Is Poetry" (0:46): MP3
  7. Barbara Guest reading "June" (1:04): MP3
  8. Barbara Guest reading "Passage (for John Coltrane)" [CP, p. 130] (1:33): MP3 : text
  9. John Ashbery reading from "Three Poems" (1:22): MP3
  10. breaking down the division between ideas and words (4:19): MP3
  11. starting with a title and theme v. letting the poem develop as it comes along (4:30): MP3
  12. closing comments (1:28): MP3
complete program (28:52): MP3

Appearing on Cross-Cultural Poetics Episode #34 with host Leonard Schwartz

complete program (1:02:12): MP3

Also of Interest

UC Berkeley Lunch Poems: videos

Barbara Guest on PennSound Daily

 

These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the author. © 2004-2008 the estate of Barbara Guest. Used with permission of Barbara Guest. Distributed by PennSound.