Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
1
2 1 BIOGRAPHY
A myth developed surrounding his death and roses. It was See also: Duino Elegies
said: To honour a visitor, the Egyptian beauty Nimet
Eloui, Rilke gathered some roses from his garden. While Rilke began writing the elegies in 1912 while a guest
doing so, he pricked his hand on a thorn. This small of Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis (18551934) at
wound failed to heal, grew rapidly worse, soon his en- Duino Castle, near Trieste on the Adriatic Sea. During
tire arm was swollen, and his other arm became aected this ten-year period, the elegies languished incomplete
as well, and so he died.[27] for long stretches of time as Rilke suered frequently
from severe depressionsome of which was caused by
the events of World War I and his conscripted military
2 Writings service. Aside from brief episodes of writing in 1913 and
1915, Rilke did not return to the work until a few years af-
ter the war ended. With a sudden, renewed inspiration
2.1 The Book of Hours writing in a frantic pace he described as a savage creative
stormhe completed the collection in February 1922
See also: The Book of Hours while staying at Chteau de Muzot in Veyras, in Switzer-
lands Rhone Valley. After their publication and his death
Rilke published the three complete cycles of poems that shortly thereafter, the Duino Elegies were quickly recog-
constitute The Book of Hours (Das Stunden-Buch) in nized by critics and scholars as Rilkes most important
[28][29]
April 1905. These poems explore the Christian search work.
for God and the nature of Prayer, using symbolism from The Duino Elegies are intensely religious, mystical po-
Saint Francis and Rilkes observation of Orthodox Chris- ems that weigh beauty and existential suering.[30] The
tianity during his travels in Russia in the early years of the poems employ a rich symbolism of angels and salvation
twentieth century. but not in keeping with typical Christian interpretations.
Rilke begins the rst elegy in an invocation of philosoph-
ical despair, asking: Who, if I cried out, would hear
2.2 The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge me among the hierarchies of angels?" (Wer, wenn ich
schriee, hrte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?)[31]
See also: The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge and later declares that every angel is terrifying (Jeder
Engel ist schrecklich).[32] While labelling of these po-
Rilke wrote his only novel, Die Aufzeichnungen des Mal- ems as elegies would typically imply melancholy and
te Laurids Brigge (translated as The Notebooks of Malte lamentation, many passages are marked by their posi-
Laurids Brigge), while living in Paris and completed the tive energy and unrestrained enthusiasm.[28] Together,
work in 1910. The novel is semi-autobiographical, and the Duino Elegies are described as a metamorphosis of
he adopts the style and technique that became associ- Rilkes "ontological torment and an impassioned mono-
ated with the Expressionism that entered European c- logue about coming to terms with human existence dis-
tion and art in the early 20th century. Rilke was in- cussing themes of the limitations and insuciency of
spired by Sigbjrn Obstfelder's work A Priests Diary and the human condition and fractured human consciousness
Jens Peter Jacobsen's second novel Niels Lyhne (1880) ... mans loneliness, the perfection of the angels, life and
which traces the fate of an atheist in a merciless world. death, love and lovers, and the task of the poet.[33]
5
Rainer Maria Rilke, Smtliche Werke in 12 Bn- Gesammelte Briefe in sechs Bnden (Collected Letters
den (Complete Works in 12 Volumes), published in Six Volumes), published by Ruth Sieber-Rilke and
by Rilke Archive in association with Ruth Sieber- Carl Sieber. Leipzig (19361939)
7
Briefe (Letters), published by the Rilke Archive in [6] See also: Mood, John. 'Rilke on Love and Other Dif-
Weimar. Two volumes, Wiesbaden (1950, reprinted culties (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1975);
1987 in single volume). and a book released by Rilkes own publisher Insel Verlag,
Hauschild, Vera (ed.), Rilke fr Gestrete (Frankfurt am
Briefe in Zwei Bnden (Letters in Two Volumes) Main: Insel-Verlag, 1998).
(Horst Nalewski, Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1991)
[7] Komar, Kathleen L. Rethinking Rilkes Duisiner Elegien
at the End of the Millennium in Metzger, Erika A.,
Other volumes of letters A Companion to the Works of Rainer Maria Rilke
(Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2004), 189.
Briefe an Auguste Rodin (Insel Verlag, 1928) [8] Komar, Kathleen L. Rilke in America: A Poet Re-
Created in Heep, Hartmut (editor). Unreading Rilke:
Briefwechsel mit Marie von Thurn und Taxis, two Unorthodox Approaches to a Cultural Myth (New York:
volumes, edited by Ernst Zinn with a forward by Peter Lang, 2000), pp. 15578.
Rudolf Kassner (Editions Max Niehans, 1954)
[9] Life of a Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke at www.
washingtonpost.com
Briefwechsel mit Thankmar von Mnchhausen 1913
bis 1925 (Suhrkamp Insel Verlag, 2004) [10] Life of a Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke by Ralph Freed-
man, Northwestern University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-8101-
Briefwechsel mit Rolf von Ungern-Sternberg und 1543-3, p. 36.
weitere Dokumente zur bertragung der Stances von
Jean Moras (Suhrkamp Insel Verlag, 2002) [11] Arana, R. Victoria (2008). The Facts on File Companion
to World Poetry: 1900 to the Present. Infobase. p. 377.
ISBN 978-0-8160-6457-1.
[24] Rilke-Briefe: Nirgends ein Fhrer (German), Der [42] Komar, Kathleen L. Rethinking Rilkes Duisiner Elegien
Spiegel (21/1957). 22 May 1957. Retrieved 28 January at the End of the Millennium in Metzger, Erika A.
2014. A Companion to the Works of Rainer Maria Rilke
(Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2004), p. 189.
[25] Elegien gegen die Angsttrume des Alltags by Hellmuth
Karasek (German). Der Spiegel (47/1981). 11 November [43] See also: Mood, John. Rilke on Love and Other Di-
1981; Karasek calls Rilke a friend of the Fascists. culties (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1975);
and a book released by Rilkes own publisher Insel Ver-
[26] Rainer Maria Rilke, Lettres Milanaises 19211926. lag, Hauschild, Vera (editor). Rilke fr Gestrete (Frank-
Edited by Rene Lang. Paris: Librairie Plon, 1956 furt am Main: Insel-Verlag, 1998).
[27] Excerpt from Reading Rilke Reections on the Prob- [44] http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3576/
lems of Translation by William H. Gass (1999) ISBN the-art-of-fiction-no-65-william-gass
0-375-40312-4; featured in The New York Times 2000.
Accessed 18 August 2010 (subscription required) [45] Malecka, Katarzyna. Death in the Works of Galway Kin-
nell (Amherst, New York: Cambria Press, 2008), passim.
[28] Hoeniger, F. David. Symbolism and Pattern in Rilkes
Duino Elegies in German Life and Letters, Volume 3, Is- [46] Guenther, John. Sidney Keyes: A Biographical Enquiry
sue 4 (July 1950), pp. 27183. (London: London Magazine Editions, 1967), p. 153.
[29] Perlo, Marjorie, Reading Gass Reading Rilke in Par- [47] Self-Elegy: Keith Douglas and Sidney Keyes (Chapter
nassus: Poetry in Review, Volume 25, Number 1/2 (2001). 9) in Kendall, Tim. Modern English War Poetry (Oxford:
[30] Gass, William H. Reading Rilke: Reections on the Prob- Oxford University Press, 2006).
lems of Translation (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999).
[48] Metzger, Erika A. and Metzger, Michael M. Introduc-
[31] Rilke, Rainer Maria. First Elegy from Duino Elegies, tion in A Companion to the Works of Rainer Maria Rilke
line 1. (Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2004), p. 8.
[32] Rilke, Rainer Maria. First Elegy from Duino Elegies, [49] Perlo, Marjorie. Apocalypse Then: Merwin and the
line 6; Second Elegy, line 1. Sorrows of Literary History in Nelson, Cary and Folsom,
Ed (eds). W. S. Merwin: Essays on the Poetry (University
[33] Dash, Bibhudutt. In the Matrix of the Divine: Ap- of Illinois, 1987), p. 144.
proaches to Godhead in Rilkes Duino Elegies and Ten-
nysons In Memoriam in Language in India Volume 11 [50] Perlo, Marjorie. Transparent Selves: The Poetry
(11 November 2011), pp. 35571. of John Ashbery and Frank OHara, in Yearbook of
English Studies: American Literature Special Number
[34] Freedman, Ralph. Life of a Poet: Rainer Maria 8(1978):17196, at p. 175.
Rilke (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press,
1998), p. 481. [51] Robey, Christopher J. The Rainbow Bridge: On Pynchons
Use of Wittgenstein and Rilke (Olean, New York: St.
[35] Sword, Helen. Engendering Inspiration: Visionary Strate- Bonaventure University, 1982).
gies in Rilke, Lawrence, and H.D. (Ann Arbor, Michigan:
University of Michigan Press, 1995), pp. 6870. [52] Perlo, Marjorie. Wittgensteins Ladder: Poetic Language
and the Strangeness of the Ordinary (Chicago: University
[36] Letter to Gertrud Ouckama Knoop, dated 20 April 1923; of Chicago Press, 1996), passim. which points towards
quoted in Snow, Edward, trans. and ed., Sonnets to Or- Wittgensteins generous nancial gifts to Rilke among sev-
pheus by Rainer Maria Rilke, bilingual edition, New York: eral Austrian artists, although he prefer Rilkes earlier
North Point Press, 2004. works and was distressed by his post-war writings.
[37] Sonette an Orpheus, Erste Teil, XIX, v.8: Gott mit der [53] Gadamer analyzed many of Rilkes themes and sym-
Leier bols. See: Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Mythopoietische
[38] Freedman, Ralph. Das Stunden-Buch and Das Buch der Umkehrung im Rilkes Duisener Elegien" in Gesammelten
Bilder: Harbingers of Rilkes Maturity in Metzger, Erika Werke, Band 9: sthetik und Poetik II Hermenutik im Vol-
A. and Metzger, Michael M. (editors). A Companion to lzug (Tbingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1993), pp. 289305.
the Works of Rainer Maria Rilke. (Rochester, New York:
[54] Dworick, Stephanie. In the Company of Rilke: Why a
Camden House Publishing, 2001), 9092.
20th-Century Visionary Poet Speaks So Eloquently to 21st-
[39] Liza Knapp, Tsvetaevas Marine Mary Magdalene (The Century Readers (New York: Penguin, 2011).
Slavic and East European Journal, Volume 43, Number 4;
[55] Cohn, Stephen (translator). Introduction in Rilke,
Winter, 1999).
Rainer Maria. Duino Elegies: A Bilingual Edition
[40] Susan Haskins, Mary Magdalen: Myth and Metaphor (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press,
(Riverhead Trade; 1995). 1989), pp. 1718. Quote: Auden, Rilkes most inu-
ential English disciple, frequently paid homage to him, as
[41] Susan Haskins, Mary Magdalen: Myth and Metaphor, p. in these lines which tell of the Elegies and of their dicult
361 (HarperCollins; 1993 ISBN 0-00-215535-4). and chancy genesis...
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