Rilke, Modernism and Poetic Tradition

A 1999 study of Rilke's poetic development, and ways in which his poetry is embedded in the culture of its day.

Judith Ryan (Author)

9780521661737, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 November 1999

270 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.57 kg

'An energetically pursued and provocative view …'. Modern Language Review

If the rise of modernism is the story of a struggle between the burden of tradition and a desire to break free of it, then Rilke's poetic development is a key example of this tension at work. Taking a sceptical view of Rilke's own myth of himself as a solitary genius, Judith Ryan reveals how deeply his writing is embedded in the culture of its day. She traces his often desperate attempts to grapple with problems of fashion, influence and originality as he shaped his career during the crucial decades in which modernism was born. This 1999 book was the first systematic study of Rilke's trajectory from aestheticism to modernism as seen through the lens of his engagement with poetic tradition and the visual arts. It is full of surprising discoveries about individual poems. Above all, it shifts the terms of the debate about Rilke's place in modern literary history.

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Rilke's writing desk
1. Fashioning the self
2. Arts and crafts
3. Writing troubles
4. The modernist turn
Conclusion: restorative modernism
Notes, Indexes.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC]