Most Popular Books by Rainer Maria Rilke

"The ultimate expression of intergenerational literary wisdom." --Andrew Solomon, The New Yorker A work that has inspired generations, this new edition of Letters to a Young Poet features a fresh translation of Rilke''s ten classic letters, along with the missing letters from the young poet himself. For nearly a century, eager writers and young poets, as well as those simply looking for a purpose in life, have embraced the wisdom of Rainer Maria Rilke''s Letters to a Young Poet, first published in 1929. Most readers and scholars have long assumed that the letters from the young poet were forever lost to posterity. Yet, shockingly, these letters were recently uncovered in Germany, and now the acclaimed translator Damion Searls has not only cast a fresh eye on Rilke''s original letters but also those of the "young poet," Franz Xaver Kappus, an Austrian military cadet and an aspiring poet. This timeless edition, in addition to presenting their dialogue together for the first time in English, provides a new window into the workings of Rilke''s visionary poetic and philosophical mind, allowing us to reexperience the literary genius of one of the most inspiring works of twentieth-century literature.

For poetry lovers and students of literature and literary criticism, Robert Bly, the National Book Award-winning poet, brings his prowess as a translator and critic to bear on the work of one of the major German poets of the century.

Letters to a Young Poet , by Rainer Maria Rilke, is a profound and introspective collection of ten letters written between 1903 and 1908 to Franz Xaver Kappus, a young aspiring poet. In these letters, Rilke offers deeply personal reflections on the creative process, solitude, love, and the challenges of artistic life. Rather than providing conventional advice, he encourages Kappus to look inward, to trust in his own experiences, and to embrace uncertainty as a vital part of artistic and personal growth. Since its publication, Letters to a Young Poet has resonated with generations of readers, artists, and thinkers. Its meditative tone and timeless insights extend beyond poetry, offering guidance to anyone navigating the complexities of life and self-expression. Rilke''s emphasis on patience, authenticity, and inner development has made the book a cherished companion for those seeking meaning in their creative or emotional journeys. The enduring appeal of Letters to a Young Poet lies in its quiet wisdom and its invitation to embrace solitude as a space for transformation. Rilke''s words continue to inspire by affirming the power of introspection and the necessity of living one''s questions fully, with openness and courage.

"This miracle of a book, perhaps the most beautiful group of poetic translations this century has ever produced," (Chicago Tribune) should stand as the definitive English language version.

A new translation of Rilke''s groundbreaking volume, following the formal properties of the original poems, especially meter and rhyme, as closely as English allows.

A collection of haunting, mystical poems of the night by the great Rainer Maria Rilke - most of which have never before been translated into English One night I held between my hands your face. The moon fell upon it. In 1916, Rainer Maria Rilke presented the writer Rudolf Kassner with a notebook, containing twenty-two poems, meticulously copied out in his own hand, which bore the title "Poems to Night." This cycle of poems which came about in an almost clandestine manner, are now thought to represent one of the key stages of this master poet''s development. Never before translated into English, this collection brings together all Rilke''s significant night poems in one volume.

These poems, selected from Das Buch der Bilder and the two parts of Neue Gedichte, show Rilke''s deep concern with sculpture and painting. Written in his less mystical period (1900-1908), the poems exhibit Rilke''s particular artistic and poetic power. Rainer Maria Rilke was one of Germany''s most important poets. His influences include the paintings of the Worpswedders and the French Impressionists, the sculpture of Rodin (to whom he was both friend and secretary), and the poetry of Baudelaire, Verlaine, Mallarm , and other symbolists. His poetry is innovative, enigmatic, and entertainingly idiosyncratic. C.F. MacIntyre''s translations are both true to the original and poetic in their own right, and in each book he includes an introduction and notes. German text faces the English translation.

This representative selection from Rilke''s large and extraordinary correspondence provides a kind of spiritual autobiography of the poet. The period here covered reflects all the great experiences of Rilke''s early adult life: his difficult beginnings, his relationships with Lou Andreas-Salome and with his wife Clara, his two journeys to Russia, his contact with the Worpswede artists, the influence of Paris, the revelation of Cezanne. Many of the letters are psychologically revealing; many touch upon characteristic themes, or freshly transcribe experience that sooner or later passes into the poetry.

Sonnets to Orpheus is Rainer Maria Rilke''s first and only sonnet sequence. It is an undisputed masterpiece by one of the greatest modern poets, translated here by a master of translation, David Young. Rilke revived and transformed the traditional sonnet sequence in the Sonnets. Instead of centering on love for a particular person, as has many other sonneteers, he wrote an extended love poem to the world, celebrating such diverse things as mirrors, dogs, fruit, breathing, and childhood. Many of the sonnets are addressed to two recurrent figures: the god Orpheus (prototype of the poet) and a young dancer, whose death is treated elegiacally. These ecstatic and meditative lyric poems are a kind of manual on how to approach the world – how to understand and love it. David Young''s is the first most sensitive of the translations of this work, superior to other translations in sound and sense. He captures Rilke''s simple, concrete, and colloquial language, writing with a precision close to the original.

This is the definitive, widely acclaimed translation of the major prose work of one of our century''s greatest poets -- "a masterpiece like no other" (Elizabeth Hardwick) -- Rilke''s only novel, extraordinary for its structural uniqueness and purity of language. First published in 1910, it has proven to be one of the most influential and enduring works of fiction of our century. Malte Laurids Brigge is a young Danish nobleman and poet living in Paris. Obsessed with death and with the reality that lurks behind appearances, Brigge muses on his family and their history and on the teeming, alien life of the city. Many of the themes and images that occur in Rilke''s poetry can also be found in the novel, prefiguring the modernist movement in its self-awareness and imagistic immediacy.

This volume of Rilke''s letters covers the years from the completion of The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge to Rilke''s death in December 1926, nearly five years after he had written the Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus, his last major works. There are important letters here to Muzot, Lou Andreas-Salome, to Princess Marie of Thurn and Taxis Hohenlohe, and many others. The most significant of the Wartime Letters: 1914-1921 are also included. An Introduction briefly traces the development of Rilke''s work during these years; the Notes provide the necessary framework of biographical details and point up significant references to the poetry.

Rilke''s haunting images focus on the difficulty of communion with the ineffable in an age of disbelief, solitude, and profound anxiety. Rainer Maria Rilke felt that the world and all its joys most truly belonged to the young, and in Stories of God he captured for them the magic, charm and wisdom of fairy and folk tales.

Presents a selection of observations and reflections on the topics of illness and death, dreams and religion, language and art, love and happiness, work and ambition, and childhood and old age.

Thanks to [Snow''s] translation, English-speaking readers will at last be able to know the entirety of these poems, Rilke''s first great work. --Stephen Mitchell.