The Sonnets to Orpheus

Rilke, Rainer Maria and Mitchell, Stephen (transl.)

ISBN 10: 0671557084 / ISBN 13: 9780671557089

Published by Simon and Schuster, New York, 1985

About this Item

8vo 183pp. translated and introduction by Stephen Mitchell. from front flap: "The Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke represents one of the most amazing outpourings of concentrated poetic achievement in world literature. Written in conjunction iwth the great DUino Elegies and dedicated to the memory of Vera Knoop, a beautiful young Dutch woman whose premature death deeply affected the poet, the cycle of Sonnets was completed in less than a month. [. . .] The result was both a masterpiece of German literature and a landmark of modern poetry." #02516. Book VG: shelf wear/soil to boards and spine, corners bumped, text unmarked, binding tight DJ VG-: corner and edge wear, age toning, NOT clipped.

Seller Inventory # 2451

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Sonnets to Orpheus
• Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York
• Publication Date: 1985
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671557084
• ISBN 13: 9780671557089
• Binding: hardcover
• Edition: first thus.
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • literature
  • poetry & drama

About this title

Synopsis

One of the literary masterpieces of the century, this translation is now presented with facing-page German.

To Rilke himself the Sonnets to Orpheus were "perhaps the most mysterious…in the way they came up and entrusted themselves to me, the most enigmatic dictation I have ever held through and achieved; the whole first part was written down in a single breathless act of obedience, between the 2nd and 5th of February, without one word being doubtful or having to be changed." With facing-page German.

Reviews

Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus (published 1923 in German) rank with the most distinguished works of modern poetry. Written in an extraordinary burst of inspiration, these poems reveal a vision of ``a mode of being in which all the ordinary human dichotomies (life/death, good/evil) are reconciled in an infinite wholeness.'' Stephen Mitchell's translations are masterful re-creations of the original, giving both precise renderings of Rilke's language and sensitive interpretations of his poetic intent. This fine dual-language edition is highly recommended. Ulrike S. Rettig, German Dept., Hervard Univ.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.