Customer Reviews

Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

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.

I found myself split over this book. I very much liked the author's unraveling of his work as a translator of such a complex poet as Rilke. But, and this is a big but, I found his actual translations dry and formal, especially when compared to earlier translations by people like Stephen Mitchell, translations that made Rilke one of my favorite poets.

For those of us who have been caught in the overwhelming force of the Duino Elegies or the Sonnets for Orpheus, William Gass's short book of reflections explores the life that brought forth such poignant works. After reading what moves from essay to biography to personal response, I found myself understanding the trials that Rilke endured and the concerns that he faced each day. I could not help but grow closer to Rilke and his work, as Gass's masterful language found the perfect word, the perfect thought, and the perfect explanation for what made Rilke's poetry so powerful. The book carries an unfortunate title, because ultimately it is Gass's account of the life, the poetry, and the symbols that permeated Rilke's ouvre, not Gass's translation efforts, which remain sharp in my memory. This book is not for the casual reader, but for those who are truly moved by Rilke's work, for those seeking a deeper understanding and appreciation of it.

I found Gass's insights about translation and the art of poetry easier to appreciate than his translations of Rilke. This book has wonderful sections about Rilke's life and the difficulty of reconciling that life within the context of translating his poems. Gass often seems to find the right words to describe the art of poetry, and for that, I found this book wonderful. In Gass's attention to detail his analysis of poetry and of other Rilke translations are insightful (and at times beautiful) and led me to make notes in the margins. As for Gass's own translation: although he seems quite sure of himself, I don't find that his attention to detail gives him an easier time in translating Rilke's poems. This book provokes appreciation for the difficulty of translation and the magic of poetry.

I found Gass's insights about translation and the art of poetry easier to appreciate than his translations of Rilke. This book has wonderful sections about Rilke's life and the difficulty of reconciling that life within the context of translating his poems. Gass often seems to find the right words to describe the art of poetry, and for that, I found this book wonderful. In Gass's attention to detail his analysis of poetry and of other Rilke translations are insightful (and at times beautiful) and led me to make notes in the margins. As for Gass's own translation: although he seems quite sure of himself, I don't find that his attention to detail gives him an easier time in translating Rilke's poems. This book provokes appreciation for the difficulty of translation and the magic of poetry.

This is the kind of book that rarely appears these days, a meditative cycle of free-form essays that adopts its own poetic approach, here to the densely metaphorical and sometimes mysterious imagery of Rainer Maria Rilke, the most important poet writing in German in the 20th century and perhaps even more, an artist's artist, and a figure whose influence has only increased in recent years.

This ever-widening attention to Rilke is reflected in Gass's fascinating and trenchant discussion of side-by-side excerpts from nearly two dozen translations of Rilke's masterpiece The Duino Elegies, the book's centerpiece and a most useful guide for the non-expert attempting to penetrate Rilke's powerful use of German, a language that non-German-speakers don't immediately identify with poetic utterance. In that alone, Gass's book will be a revelation, taking the reader into lines, words and images with a translator's critical and aesthetic eye and ear, elucidating why Gass himself makes the choices he does.

In fact the book appears to be a kind of gloss, an extended set of notes with related ideas that allowed Gass to arrive at his own translation of the Elegies, a translation that appears at the end of this volume. It is a plus that Gass's own version of the Elegies hardly offers the final word on the matter - although he is transparent in discussing his own sometimes idiosyncratic choices and solutions, you feel that the results are sometimes artificial, unmusical, and enjambed for meaning. But we only bring that level of critical insight because of Gass's own discussion, and in that vein the book is really very generous: rather than closing the door to others, Gass's study invites further efforts. Making the finest possible English translation of the Duino Elegies is a worthy quest, and Gass's volume will no doubt draw many other aspirants to the challenge.

The book is also a pleasure for the casual reader of Rilke, highlighting important poems, ideas, and biographical moments from the writer's life with a couple of unorthodox observations - for example, that the poet had a limited education, reflected in his sometimes quirky allusions and sources. On the othe hand he was also a prophetic, visionary critic of painting, whose early and deep appreciations of Cezanne and Picasso appeared long before those artists had been very widely recognized.

Finally, I gave my copy of this book to a friend, and soon found I had to buy another copy for myself. For the reader of Rilke, and perhaps for poets of all persuasions, it's a book that takes us closer to the surface craft and deeper art of poetry than many other critical works. Rilke may be indispensable for all artists, particularly aspiring ones, and this book may well be indispensable for students of Rilke. An easy five stars.

As a translator I can sympathize with Gass' approach. He gets to fault all the other translators (this writer included)while also, implicitly and explicitly, celebrating his own results. But despite this rhetorical cunning, Gass, who is a fine essayist and novelist, does not have a poet's ear, and again and again his versions fall short of effective poetry. They must stand by themselves, ultimately, and while he does his utmost to justify them, they tend to reveal why he needs special pleading to put them before us as supposedly superior to other versions. Mine, from the mid-seventies, first published in FIELD and now available from Norton, have reached a wide public without this kind of explaining, carping, and denigration of the efforts of others.

Gass's book gives the voyeur in us all a rare glimpse into the sordid life of Rilke but the lack of correctly quoted German (mostly spelling mistakes) and the fact that no poem is quoted in its entirety in German, makes for slipshod scholarship. Gass, who is probably a riot at parties of PhD students, can't put a stop to his sometimes foolhardy attempts at humor, albeit sarcastic at times, to make a point about translating. He refers to himself in the third person (among variations of poem translations) , which is ridiculous, and can barely contain himself when bashing other translators. Ho, hum.