Customer Reviews

Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

A Shameful Translation

This volume is quite possibly the sloppiest, most disrespectful, and least reliable "translation" of Rilke I have ever seen. The term "translation" can only be used in the most casual sense for in their notes on translation Barrows and Macy describe a kind of vague new-age method of translation consisting of a kind of collaboration between them and the original, full of interpretation and subjectivity (pg. 35). At one point they even confess to doing away entirely with the accurate translation of one of the poems in favour of a "metaphorical" translation (pg. 40). They admit to omitting lines, entire sections of poems, and even collapsing two consecutive poems into one (pg. 41). Any legitimate and reputable translator would be horrified by these hackneyed techniques.

For example, in the very first poem, one which sets the tone for the whole book, Barrows and Macy, in their foot notes, admit to cutting out the entire last stanza, fully one-third of the first poem because, "it is not as strong as the first two stanzas, especially for the opening poem of The Book of Hours." Rilke, his editor, and his publisher obviously thought it was strong enough. The fact of the matter is that Rilke's work is what it is and it is not the translator's place, as any reputable translator knows full well, to make those determinations. On page 42 of their notes on translation, commenting further on Rilke's supposedly weak writing, they smugly comment, "Since we could not bring him the chicken soup he needed on those long nights [of writing], we have done him the favour of culling." One wishes they had done him the favour of a reliable and reputable translation instead of rewriting his beautiful and thoughtful original.

As well intentioned as this volume may be, there is simply never an excuse for severely editing a poet's work in order to "fit modern sensibilities." I'm not talking about the process of translating itself, which inevitably alters a text, but rather Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy's admitted practice of omitting many poems in Rilke's Book of Hours, and even entire stanzas of other poems that they simply didn't like. But let them speak for themselves. This is from the book's notes on translation: "Our many omissions were made out of respect for Rilke (!) to convey and preserve WHAT WE CONSIDERED his essential meaning, undistracted by cliches and undiluted by mixed metaphors...what seemed appropriate to Rilke in Europe nearly a hundred years ago sometimes smacks of pious sentimentality to the American reader on the edge of the 21st century." How fortunate for Rilke that he managed to sustain a reputation for greatness all these years without the help of these two revisionist editors to clean up his act! If you like your Rilke strained through the sieve of Berkely political correctness circa 1991 then this is the volume for you. If, however, you believe that much of Rilke's greatness lies in the fact that what he wrote nearly a century ago continues to speak to the universal human condition today, choose another translation. I returned this one.

Rainer Maria Rilke's poetry sings and dances...in its original. This book is again proof that is well-nigh impossible to translate poetry and to preserve its fundamental nature. What places the finishing touches upon Rilke in his native German is his beautiful sense of linguistic balance, of metric symmetry. This translation was executed, though, with no regard to metre (the translators admit as much). While they tend to successfully encapsulate Rilke's meaning, it is rather a free-form exercise...often omitting two or three lines at a whim...would perhaps be better to view this as Anita Barrows' personal interpretation of Rilke's poetry. Poetry is extremely challenging to translate (Rilke notoriously so); this is a game effort, and an interesting approach...but it isn't really Rilke at the end of it all.

All that said, I refrain from dunning this entirely...the kernel of Rilke's meaning pokes through, but I firmly recommend reading this instead in German, ability provided. As far as suitable English translations of Rilke, the best ones available to my mind are those done by Edward Snow.

I hadn't read Rilke in years. And then, wonderfully, I pulled this hitherto unopened translation off my shelves, and rediscovered what so moved me in his poetry when I was a young man. Rilke has the true poet's gift of seeing more deeply into the fabric of existence than most of us, and the ability to invite us to look a bit more closely. He hints, insinuates, teases, and almost always illuminates.

I particularly love this book because Rilke, in keeping with the tradition of love mysticism, wants to suggest that there's no fundamental difference between the intense yearning for another person and the intense yearning for God. As the poet/narrator tells a young monk struggling with passions of the flesh, "now, like a whispering in dark streets/rumors of God run through your dark blood." Love of God and love of humans are both erotic inasmuch as they involve the entire person, mind, soul, and body. To long for the beloved is necessarily a sensual experience. Moreover, reminiscent of the great medieval mystic Meister Eckhart, Rilke holds that God erotically yearns for us as much as we yearn for God. One of my favorite poems in the book, "Was wirst du tun, Gott, wenn ich sterbe?", hauntingly worries about the devastatinig effect the poet/narrator's death will have upon God the Lover:

What will you do, God, when I die?
I am your pitcher (when I shatter?)
I am your drink (when I go bitter?)
I, your garment; I, your craft.
Without me what reason have you?

...What will you do, God? I am afraid.

Rilke wrote exceptional poetry. This book offers prayers he felt compelled to write after visiting Russia and encountering a simpler form of Christianity. It is engaging and powerful to wrestle with God and the human condition as they intersect. Rilke holds himself open and offers the reader language, terror and beauty in the face of an exceedingly complex yet personal God.

Rilke himself deserves five out of five stars. However,as has been noted in other reviews, this book bears the scars of interpretation from its translators. The muddled stories of conversion to Buddhism tip their hats to their interpretive goals. Consider the following end note:

"I,55 We have omitted two lines that didn't fit in the cup. It wasn't just the first murder that fragmented God's ancient names (see I,9), but also our presumptuous attempts to describe God. From the Tao Te Ching: 'The Way that can be named is not the Way.'"

I had bought the book to read Rilke, not some deconstructed version of him. So, although the writing is a fantastic set of poetry, I would caution the reader to move on to another translation that is more about Rilke as Rilke wrote. I wish I had examined my copy more closely before I purchased it.

Rilke is my favorite poet, but this translation does not do justice to him. I think it is very unfair for modern translators to assume that a contemporary reader would find meter and rhyme "too singsong to convey accurately the seriousness of Rilke's meaning" (quote from the translators' "Notes on the Translation"). Rilke's subject matter and ideas are captivating on their merit alone, but one cannot separate meaning from style in poetry. I believe that to change Rilke's style in a translation is to depart completely from what he felt about his own work, and to drastically weaken what gives his poems their power. Therefore, I prefer the work of stricter translators of Rilke's poetry, such as C. F. MacIntyre.

"My branches/ rest in deep silence," Rilke writes in this collection, "stirred only by the wind" (I, 3). I arrived at this translation of Rilke through Joanna Macy's recent memoir, WIDENING CIRCLES (2000), the title of which Macy took from a Rilke poem collected here: "I live my life in widening circles/ that reach out across the world./ I may not ever complete the last one,/ but I give myself to it" (I, 2). I am not a Rilke scholar, nor am I qualified to comment on the accuracy of this translation, but for me, Macy and Barrows succeed in capturing the spiritual intimacy of Rilke's verse.

Rilke (1875-1926) wrote his BOOK OF HOURS between the years 1899-1903, inspired by the spirituality he encountered while visiting Russia. He tells us things of the world have souls, giving us an opportunity for dialogue. It is possible to read this collection both as "cycle of love poems," and as "intensely inward conversations with God" (p. 24). Rilke portrays God "not with lapis or gold, but with colors made of apple bark" (I, 60). He observes that God moves quietly through our lives: "Of all who move through the quiet houses,/ you are the quietest" (I, 45). God runs "like a herd of luminous deer/ and I am dark," Rilke writes, "I am a forest" (I, 45).

"Things" teach us "to fall,/ patiently to trust our heaviness./ Even a bird has to do that/ before he can fly" (II, 16). "Now you must go out into your heart," Rilke writes in another poem, "as onto a vast plain" (II, 2). These are poems that will quietly touch your soul; they will leave you wanting to spend more than a few HOURS with Rilke. Another recommended favorite is Mitchell's SELECTED POETRY OF RAINER MARIA RILKE (1989).

G. Merritt

I read poetry in different voices in my head. I hear the best poetry in the Irish brogue of my Grandmother. I hear the worst in my native New Jersey accent. This translation of my beloved Rilke had "Trenton" written all over it. I'll be returning it and looking for another volume translated by Edward Snow.

I adore, truly adore the writings - and the heart - of
Rainer Maria Rikle - and as I read each author's preface
to this award winning translation, I felt as if I was
finding two kindred spirits who love Rilke as much
as I do.

Listen to this from the opening notes:

"Most of all we acknowledge the young man who, standing
at the brink of this fearsome century, opened the treasure
house of his huge heart."

I am not a German scholar - all I know in German is
how to say "I love you" - so I can not read Rilke in
the original German. I have read other reviews which
find fault with this translation. I found myself
appreciating the thoroughness of their choices... and
the care they put into word selection and the time
they studied other translations with the intent to
honor the original German.

I have spent the last several days revelling in this
volume and was thrilled to discover this pair of
translators have another Rilke volume on the way.

The book includes a brief history of the poems themselves
and the life of Rilke (vis a vis the collection of poems.)
The included commentary explains their choices.

I would recommend this book for Rilke and non-Rilke
fans a like. The words are timeless, lovely and
imblued with love.

This book is magnificent, and my copy is dog-eared
and worn from hours of loving perusal. I don't speak
German, and though I can respect the purist point of
view, I nonetheless found this book to be an amazing
read, which I return to time and time again. The words
draw you in and hold you, enthrall you with their very
powerful messages and images. The beauty of his poetry
would be tragic to miss.

Ich lese es heraus aus deinem Wort

I read it here in your very word,
in the story of the gestures
with which your hands cupped themselves
around our becoming - limiting, warm.

You said live out loud, and die you said lightly,
and over and over again you said be.

But before the first death came murder.
A fracture broke across the rings you'd ripened.
A screaming shattered the voices

that had come together to speak you,
to make of you a bridge
over the chasm of everything.

And what they have stammered ever since
are fragments
of your ancient name.

I can not imagine how one can reads these words and
not be moved. The poems brought to mind a sense of
being an important part of a greater whole.
Awe-inspiring. Exquisite. Beautiful. Brilliant, simply
brilliant. This collection was my introduction to the
magnificent Rainer Maria Rilke, and this novice will
forever and ever be grateful to Barrows and Macy for it.

The poetry is wonderful, and you will not regret buying,
borrowing or reading it.