With all his contradictions, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is one of the fathers of modern literature and the Duino Elegies one of its great monuments. Begun in 1912 but not completed until 1922, they are `modern' in almost every sense the word has acquired; yet Rilke was by temperament anti-moderhn, a snob and a romantic. He was devoted to the three A's: Architecture, Agriculture, Aristocracy. The Duino Elegies aroused real excitement among English readers when the now-dated Leishman/Spender versions first appeared in ...
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With all his contradictions, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is one of the fathers of modern literature and the Duino Elegies one of its great monuments. Begun in 1912 but not completed until 1922, they are `modern' in almost every sense the word has acquired; yet Rilke was by temperament anti-moderhn, a snob and a romantic. He was devoted to the three A's: Architecture, Agriculture, Aristocracy. The Duino Elegies aroused real excitement among English readers when the now-dated Leishman/Spender versions first appeared in the 1930s. Stephen Cohn, the distinguished artist and teacher, has worked for over three years to complete this outstanding new translation. Peter Porter writes: `Your translation must have grandeur, essential size in its component parts, and speed to catch the marvellous twists of Rilke's imagination.' He adds, `Cohn has met all these requirements.' These versions show a rare empathy with the originals and an instinct for the right diction and cadence. They are, says Porter, `the most flowing and organic I have read.'
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The "warning" with this used copy was frank enough to say that pencil comments were scattered liberally throughout the text. Rather than find this a drawback, I've got a great deal out of the thoughts and research of another reader, and returned to poems I read first more than forty years ago with tremendous pleasure - I'm sure having had a great many more life experiences has primed me to appreciate what is regarded as Rilke's masterpiece more than I was able to at twenty or so.
