The Essential Rilke [Hardcover]

Rainer Maria Rilke (Author), Galway Kinnell (Author), Hannah Liebmann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 6, 1999

German poet Rainer Maria Rilke(1875-1926) enjoys ever-increasing popularity.  His Duino Elegies is considered on of the greatest long poems of the twentieth century.  Yet translations from his native German have always presented challenges: the elusiveness of Rilke's imagery, the playful way he both distorts and subverts his own language, and the depth and complexity of his poetry make it difficult for translators to preserve the beauty and meaning of the original text.  In his stunning bilingual selection that includes the entire Duino Elegies as well as a number of favorite and less familiar shorter poems, Galway Kinnell and Hannah Liebmann manage to retain power and grace of Rilke's words.  Throughout his poetry, Rilke addresses questions of how to live in and relate to a world in a voice  that is simultaneoulsy prophetic and intensely personel.  These translations offer new insight into this enigmatic German poet whose work will continue to be read and admired throughout the world.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Archaic Torso Of Apollo
Autumn Day
The Beggar's Song
Beside The Road Used To Sun
The Bowl Of Roses
Death
Don Juan's Childhood
The Eighth Elegy
The Fifth Elegy
The First Elegy
The Flamingos
The Fourth Elegy
From A Childhood
Going Blind
I'm Not Sure Yet When
I, 19
I, 2
I, 3
I, 5
Ii, 13
Leda
Long You Must Suffer
The Ninth Elegy
Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes
The Panther
Pieta
The Quieting Of Mary With The Resurrected One
Requiem For A Friend
The Second Elegy
The Seventh Elegy
The Sixth Elegy
The Swan
The Tenth Elegy
The Third Elegy
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Language Notes

Text: English, German (translation)
Original Language: German

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Ecco; Bilingual edition (August 6, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880016760
• ISBN-13: 978-0880016766
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #570,381 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Translation, September 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Essential Rilke (Hardcover)

I thoroughly disagree with the reader from Pennsylvania. I can read German -- in fact, I teach German language and literature at the university level -- and I find not only that Kinnell does full justice to Rilke's language and imagery, but also that his translation itself constitutes excellent, readable poetry.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hews Nicely Close to the German, March 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Essential Rilke (Hardcover)

Kinnell and Liebmann's translations are spare and honest, hewing closely to the German and intelligently handling the less easily translatable passages, of which there are many. This volume brings you closer to Rilke's original thought than others, such as Mitchell, whose tone at times might be closer to Rilke's but who strays too far from Rilke's actual words. I only wish they'd translated more of the poems!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A word about the Art of Rilke, July 7, 2006

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Essential Rilke (Paperback)

What makes Rilke such a memorable poet? What is it that distinctly defines his art? In his letters Rilke writes, "Art is childhood. Art means to be oblivious to the fact that the world already exists and to create one. Not to destroy what one encounters but simply not to find anything. Countless possibilitieS countless wishes.And suddenly to be fulfillment, to be summer, to have sun."

Rilke has a metaphorical language all his own which seems to open a new word of perceiving the world. He has a reflective richness which seems to suddenly reveal to us new and profound meanings in life and art. To read his work is to be drawn into a world profound and suggestive which always seems to be hinting that in the deepest fullness of our apprehension of each object of everyday life there is a transcendent beauty.