Lost Son

Cunningham follows The Green Age of Asher Witherow (2004) with a dense novelization of the life of the poet Rainer Maria Rilke. An account of Rilke's baptism gives over to a chronicle of his time in Paris, where he ruminates on life and befriends sculptor Auguste Rodin. From Rodin's residence, the narrative episodically follows Rilke from his days as a sickly military cadet and his meeting the writer Lou Andreas-Salome—his muse with whom he travels widely—to an interlude with Lord Chamberlain's skeleton in a crypt and eventually to the double heartbreak of Rilke's father's death and his final parting with Rodin, which inspires the poet to wall himself away behind his writer's desk. Cunningham is a talented writer, although unwelcome shifts into second-person and passages rife with adjective abuse mar this ambitious undertaking. (June)
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Technique remains popular in historical fiction. Rather than insert imaginary characters in historical settings where they interact with real historical figures, novelists are creating fictional biographies of real people. This can be a tricky approach because it mixes fact and fiction even more than usual for the genre. The approach can be particularly tricky when the subject is himself a writer. Should the fictional writer talk like the historical writer's writings? One of the ways this fictionalized biography of poet Rainer Maria Rilke attempts to overcome the problem is by mixing styles. The novel is a mix of first-, third-, and even second-person narration, as well as some of Rilke's actual writings. The result is itself mixed. Some passages are lyrical and moving; others seem unnecessarily dense. Fans of Rilke will be curious about this take on his life, but those not already interested are unlikely to find this a compelling starting point. Marta Segal
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