Where Silence Reigns: Selected Prose
by Rainer Maria Rilke
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Where Silence Reigns, a sampling from his essays, notebooks, and letters, shows Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), the pre-eminent modern poet of solitude and inwardness, seeking to reconcile his personal conflict between the claims of life" and the claims of art. His subjects are commonplace, seemingly innocuous at times: the encounter between a man and a dog, a collection of dolls, a walk among trees. But always the deceptively simple external phenomenon is seen as the symbol, the catalyst of show more an intensely felt inner experience. As he confided to his friend Frau Wunderly-Volkart: "Oh, how often one longs to speak a few degrees more deeply! My prose... lies deeper... but one gets only a minimal layer further down; one's left with a mere intimation of the kind of speech that may be possible THERE where silence reigns." In addition to occasional pieces and notebook entries, this volume contains selections from the strange and haunting "Dream-Book," the lyrical "Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke," and the entire "Rodin-Book" - Rilke's appreciation of the great sculptor whom he had served as secretary." show lessTags
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Where Silence Reigns, a sampling of from his essays, notebooks, and letters, shows Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), the pre-eminent modern poet of solitude and inwardness, seeking to reconcile his personal conflict between the claims of 'life" and the claims of art. His subjects are commonplace, seemingly innocuous, at times . . ., but always the deceptively simple external phenomenon is seen as the symbol, the catalyst of an intensely felt inner experience.
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1,114+ Works 31,583 Members
More than any other modern German writer, Rainer Maria Rilke seems to match our romantic idea of what a poet should be, though, as with many writers, separating artistry from affectation is often difficult. Restless, sensitive, reverent, yet egotistical, Rilke often seems to hover in his poems like a sort of ethereal being. He was born in 1875 to show more a wealthy family in Prague. After a few years devoted to the study of art and literature, he spent most of his adult life wandering among the European capitals and devoting himself single-mindedly to poetry. His early poems reflect his interest in the visual and plastic arts, as he tries to lose himself in contemplation of objects such as an antique torso of Apollo.His later books of poetry, such as Duino Elegies (1923) and Sonnets to Orpheus (1923), on the contrary, focus intently on internal realms. The poetry of Rilke is noted, above all, for metaphysical and psychological nuances. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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New Directions Paperbook (464)
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- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Literature Studies and Criticism
- DDC/MDS
- 838.91208 — Literature & rhetoric German & related literatures German miscellaneous writings 1900- 1900-1990 1900-1945 Prose : Collections or discussions of work in more than one form
- LCC
- PT2635 .I65 .A245 — Language and Literature German, Dutch and Scandinavian literatures German literature Individual authors or works 1860/70-1960
- BISAC
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- Languages
- English
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- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
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