‘Love Letter’ – George Barker

I bought a hardback Faber first edition of George Barker’s ‘A Vision of Beasts and Gods’ – couldn’t resist it despite the £25 price tag, and it was well worth it. In my Cambridge Guide to Literature in English, they mention 13 collections but not this one. Born in Loughton, Essex in 1913, he seems to have missed the critical acclaim. According to his second wife Elspeth, “he never did anything to promote himself, never went to literary parties, and was too difficult and argumentative to belong to anything like a literary school”, which is a good reason to like him already! I’m really enjoying getting to know his work. He was apparently “a prodigious drinker, and an habitual user of Methedrine and Benzedrine. He never owned a home – his sole attempt at property purchase ended when a fraudulent estate agent absconded with his entire savings and … fathered 15 children by four different women.” Guardian, April 2008