Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation [Hardcover]

William H. Gass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 7, 1999

The greatly admired essayist, novelist, and philosopher, author of Cartesian Sonata, Finding a Form, and The Tunnel, reflects on the art of translation and on Rainer Maria Rilke's Duino Elegies -- and gives us his own translation of Rilke's masterwork.

After nearly a lifetime of reading Rilke in English, William Gass undertook the task of translating Rilke's writing in order to see if he could, in that way, get closer to the work he so deeply admired. With Gass's own background in philosophy, it seemed natural to begin with the Duino Elegies, the poems in which Rilke's ideas are most fully expressed and which as a group are important not only as one of the supreme poetic achievements of the West but also because of the way in which they came to be written -- in a storm of inspiration.

Gass examines the genesis of the ideas that inform the Elegies and discusses previous translations. He writes, as well, about Rilke the man: his character, his relationships, his life.
Finally, his extraordinary translation of the Duino Elegies offers us the experience of reading Rilke with a new and fuller understanding.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1922, four years before he died of leukemia at age 51, Rilke finally completed the Duino Elegies, named for the castle where they poured out over an intensive four day (and night) period; within days of their completion, the Sonnets to Orpheus emerged as a reality-affirming coda. Rilke's dense and intricate verbal texture has made translation all the more irresistible over the years, and Gass, an intellectual eminence (Cartesian Sonata; Finding a Form; The Tunnel; etc.) is the first to meet the challenge discursively: this genre-bending book is a series of personal essaysAat times veering between melodramatic and ellipticalAthat explore Rilke's biography as much as they address Gass's own difficult choices in the translations scattered throughout. Gass vividly evokes a poet "getting used to strange dark halls, guest beds, always cadging and scrounging, eating poorly," finding Rilke's lyrics "obdurate, complex, and compacted... displaying an orator's theatrical power, while remaining as suited to a chamber and its music as a harpsichord." In the translations themselves, however, Gass tends to replace complexity with unwarranted truism, as in the Fourth elegyA"but the contours of our feelings stay unknown/ when public pressure shapes the face we know"Aas if to shield readers from the difficult and the strange. (Translations of all 10 elegies appear in an appendix at the book's end.) That said, Gass has an impressive ear for dramatic prosody, and a sensitivity to Rilke's playfulness and formal elegance (especially in the Tenth Elegy). Its willingness to be bold in a climate of scholarly restraint makes this translation one of the best availableAsuperior, in particular, to the once-standard versions by Leishman and Spender, and to the recent versions of Stephen Mitchell. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Gass offers so much more than the subtitle to this gem might imply. The pages are filled with seamlessly intertwined biographical insights, textual analysis, commentary on the elusive art of translation, and fresh and vibrant new renderings of many of Rainer Maria Rilke's key works. A fitting tribute to one of the 20th century's greatest poets and everything literary criticism should be. (LJ 8/99)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (September 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375403124
• ISBN-13: 978-0375403125
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #328,730 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The place to start if you want to read Rilke, June 25, 2002

By 

HuckVT - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation (Paperback)

It may seem odd that a book about translating Rainer Maria Rilke would be a good place to start encountering the poet.

But Rilke is not only a brilliant poet, one of the greatest of the twentieth century, he is also difficult to approach. I read him on and off for ten years before I could see beyond what I thought was pretentious esthetic posturing. (Now, like so many others, I see Rilke as one of the great meditators on art and life, someone who reveals us to ourselves with a depth and clarity that few -- if any -- can equal.)

Here, in sum, is why this book is so wonderful. William Gass has read, and struggled with, and been guided by, Rainier Maria Rilke all his life. In many ways, he tells us, he has been clolser to Rilke than any other human being. And now, after a half century of that intimate relationship, he tells us who this literary 'friend' is, what his life has been, what he has gone through, what he has achieved -- and why we should care. There can be no more important book for any of us to write: 'this is what I cared most about in my life, this is what I learned from that caring.'

This is what Willam H. Gass, a major American novelist, does in his book:
-- He provides a brilliant short biography of Rilke
-- He explicates, effortlessly, some of his shorter lyrics, so that the reader can understand what Rilke does and what is at stake in his poems.
-- He teaches us, through a long but not boring chapter on translation, just how complex and apt Rilke's language is. That is not small accomplishment, since Rilke seems to sing so effortlessly that it easy to overlook how much is going on in each phrase.
-- He knows what is best in Rilke, focusing on the revolutionary "New Poems," the amazing "Requiem" to Paula Modersohn-Becker, and Rilke's towering achievement, the "Duino Elegies."
-- He, by following Rilke's artistic career with all its hesitations and confusions, helps us to understand how the "Elegies" are discovery and revelation: not just for us, but for the poet himself.
-- He provides us with fine translations of many Rilke poems, including the "Elegies."

The book Gass has written is a rich and satisfying way to enter into Rilke's poetry. It is as if one's grandfather sat down under a shady tree one bright and sunny summer morning, and began, "The love of my life has been...." and then spentthe rest of the day speaking in warm and intimate ways about that love and what it has meant to his life.

Just as that would be a marvelous day, so this is a marvelous and unforgettable book

34 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars holistic approach to Rilke, September 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation (Hardcover)

at first I was skeptical about a 200 page book that combines everything from the entirety of Rilke's life to an in-depth analysis of not 2, not 3, but *12* different translators and their treatment of Rilke. in a relatively short space this book manages to dazzle me with the way it stands back from all that's been done to Rilke and twisted from Rilke, and offers up a Rilke who is human -- both a puppet and an angel.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed results, April 20, 2000

By 

Jonathan Mayhew (Lawrence, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation (Hardcover)

Gass's comparisons of previous translations of Rilke show a deep understanding of the problems involved in translating this complex poet. His own versions of the Duino Elegies are passable, though he is largely unconcerned with poetic rhythm. He even quotes previous translations in prose (i.e. without line breaks)! Gass's own famously ornate prose shows signs of strain; it is breezy and full of jarringly inappropriate similes. Wonderful insights are often juxtaposed with irrelevant comparisons, making the book enjoyable and frustrating by turns.