The Cambridge Companion to Rilke

A collection of specially commissioned essays providing an overview of the life, works and contexts of this important modernist poet.

Karen Leeder (Edited by), Robert Vilain (Edited by)

9780521705080, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 21 January 2010

250 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.2 cm, 0.41 kg

Often regarded as the greatest German poet of the twentieth century, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) remains one of the most influential figures of European modernism. In this Companion, leading scholars offer informative and thought-provoking essays on his life and social context, his correspondence, all his major collections of poetry including most famously the Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus, and his seminal novel of Modernist anxiety, The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. Rilke's critical contexts are explored in detail: his relationship with philosophy and the visual arts, his place within modernism and his relationship to European literature, and his reception in Europe and beyond. With its invaluable guide to further reading and a chronology of Rilke's life and work, this Companion will provide an accessible, engaging account of this extraordinary poet whose legacy looms so large today.

Chronology
Introduction Karen Leeder and Robert Vilain
Part I. Life: 1. Rilke: a biographical exploration Rüdiger Görner
2. The status of the correspondence in Rilke's work Ulrich Baer
Part II. Works: 3. Early poems Charlie Louth
4. The new poems William Waters
5. The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge Andreas Huyssen
6. The Duino Elegies Kathleen L. Komar
7. The Sonnets to Orpheus Thomas Martinec
Part III. Cultural Contexts, Influences, Reception: 8. Rilke and modernism Andreas Kramer
9. Rilke as reader Robert Vilain
10. Rilke and the visual arts Helen Bridge
11. Rilke: thought and mysticism Paul Bishop
12. Rilke and his philosophical critics Anthony Phelan
13. Rilke's legacy in the English-speaking world Karen Leeder
Appendix: poem titles
Guide to further reading
Index
Index to Rilke's works.

Subject Areas: Literature: history & criticism [DS], Literature & literary studies [D]