Two Stories of Prague signifies the maturation of a poet and of a people. Although most readers know Rilke as a mature, cosmopolitan poet, here we can discern a young writer self-consciously exploring his development as a man and his emergence as an artist. Angela Esterhammer writes that in symbolic, stylistic, and biographical terms these stories "record the process by which Rilke fashions himself into an independent, empowered individual."
--This text refers to the
Paperback
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
These two tales, here translated into English for the first time, reveal a little-known aspect of the celebrated German poet, who was born and educated in Prague and profoundly influenced by his years there. The stories depict the ethnic struggle between the Germans and the Czechs that riveted that city during the 1890s. "King Bohush," inspired by an actual murder, examines Czech intellectual life of the period. Bohush is a simple-minded hunchback who naively meets with a group of artists and writers at the local cafe to espouse a radical form of Czech nationalism. He confides an innocent secret to a brooding revolutionary named Rezek, who, when other members of the group are arrested, murders Bohush for supposedly betraying their cause. "The Siblings," a more disturbing but less cohesive tale, explores Rezek's subsequent malign effects on an unsophisticated brother and sister, symbols of the two sides of Bohemian culture.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
One of the 20th century's most exquisite poets, noted especially for the Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus , Rilke also experimented with prose. The two stories included here are set in Prague, where Rilke was born and raised, and reflect the tensions between the German nationals living there and the Czech-speaking majority. "King Bohush" is the poignant tale of a hunchback ultimately murdered because he is suspected of betraying the incipient nationalist cause; "The Siblings" concerns a young Czech girl who loses her brother and then her mother when the family moves to Prague and yet manages to survive and even flourish. These stories are not altogether interesting in themselves--Rilke's forte is clearly lyric description, not narrative, and in any case these slightly wooden tales are a young man's work--but they are important for their insight into the development of Rilke's writing. For students of German literature, Esterhammer's excellent introduction is worth the price of the book. Primarily for academic libraries.
- Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Atmospheric, lyrical early stories,
This review is from: Two Stories of Prague: King Bohush The Siblings (Paperback)
These two stories are lovely, and a bit different from the Rilke works to which we English-speakers are exposed. They are very interesting for those enchanted with Prague, as Rilke mentions many landmarks within the city (buildings, graveyards, and such that still exist), and the translator does a very nice job footnoting all the locations mentioned. Both these stories deal with the relationship between the Germans and the Czechs in Prague when Rilke lived there, which is fascinating, since this is no longer the situation at present. The stories are both romantic, but <<King Bohush>> is the better one, being a more convincing picture of reality and less muddled.
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