Review
An author as intriguing and complex as Rilke has many facets, and the 11 essays in this volume attest to the wealth of possible approaches. CHOICE br> Editors and authors are all renowned Rilke specialists. The broad scope of their academic experience, careers, and area of critical activity guarantees the extremely high level of interest that this book evokes. ARBITRIUM The ten essays by eminent Rilke scholars succeed in their intent to move toward a new image of Rilke. GERMAN QUARTERLY This study is a wonderful, animated text, a lovely tribute to the poet's great humanity, and it should be included in any study of Rilke. COLLOQUIA GERMANICA The cosmopolitan solitary is shown against the background of a developing modernistic culture, to which (Rilke) substantially contributed. The authors show profound insight into the many problems raised ... by work which combines the ineffable with the physical. MODERN LANGUAGE STUDIES

Book Description
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is the best-known German poet of his generation and is widely appreciated today by readers in Europe, the United States, and world-wide. Because of the inventiveness and musicality of his poetic language and the visionary intuition of his thinking, Rilke's influence extends well beyond poetry to include religion, philosophy, the social sciences, and the arts. His works have been widely translated into English, and new enderings of such poem cycles as The Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus appear frequently. Critics regard Rilke's Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge as a seminal modern novel. The Companion to Rilke provides essential, up-to-date essays by top Rilke scholars on a wide range of the major aspects of Rilke's life and works. The volume follows the chronology of Rilke's career, emphasizing those works that have met with the greatest critical interest. Among the topics covered are: Rilke's life and thought; the writings before 1902; Das Stunden-Buch and I>Das Buch der Bilder; the Neue Gedichte, The Cornet and other brief narratives Malte Laurids Brigge, The Duino Elegies, The Sonnets to Orpheus, Rilke as a poet in French; Rilke and the visual arts. Erika and Michael Metzger (SUNY Buffalo) have written extensively on various aspects of German literature and have edited significant Baroque texts.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is the best-known German poet of his generation and is widely appreciated today by readers in Europe, the United States, and world-wide. Because of the inventiveness and musicality of his poetic language and the visionary intuition of his thinking, Rilke's influence extends well beyond poetry to include religion, philosophy, the social sciences, and the arts. His works have been widely translated into English, and new renderings of such poem cycles as The Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus appear frequently. Critics regard Rilke's Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge as a seminal modern novel. The Companion to Rilke provides essential, up-to-date essays by top Rilke scholars on a wide range of the major aspects of Rilke's life and works. The volume follows the chronology of Rilke's career, emphasizing those works that have met with the greatest critical interest. Among the topics covered are: Rilke's life and thought; the writings before 1902; Das Stunden-Buch and Das Buch der Bilder; the Neue Gedichte, The Cornet and other brief narratives Malte Laurids Brigge, The Duino Elegies, The Sonnets to Orpheus, Rilke as a poet in French; Rilke and the visual arts. Erika and Michael Metzger (SUNY Buffalo) have written extensively on various aspects of German literature and have edited significant Baroque texts.

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