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jolovesbookstbh's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
zezeki's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
cardcaptorkat's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.5
melly_v's review against another edition
5.0
This is wonderful! 5 stars.
This is my first time reading Rilke and I wish I had not waited so long. This is a short collection of 10 letters that Rilke wrote to a young aspiring poet. In these letters, he grapples with his own philosophy and beliefs about love, solitude, the human experience, what makes a good life and living as an artist. I connected with so much of what he wrote, especially when he speaks of the importance of being open and accepting of all emotions and human experiences. His language is beautiful and poetic and I now feel I must immediately get hold of some of his works of poetry. I read the Penguin Classics Edition.
There were so many quotes I loved, but here are just a few:
- In recommending his favourite books, Rilke writes: “A world will come over you, the joy, the richness, the incomprehensible greatness of a new world. Live in these books for a while, learn from them what seems to be worth learning, but above all love them. This love will be repaid you thousands and thousands of times, and however your life may turn out - this love, I am sure of it, will run through the weave of your becoming as one of the most important threads of all among the other threads of your experiences, disappointments and joys.”
- “But only someone who is ready for anything and rules nothing out, not even the most enigmatic things, will experience the relationship with another as a living thing and will himself live his own existence to the full. For imagining an individual’s existence as a larger or smaller room reveals to us that most people are only acquainted with one corner of their particular room, a place by the window, a little area to pace up and down.”
- “Things are not all as graspable and sayable as on the whole we are led to believe; most events are unsayable, occur in a space that no word has ever penetrated, and most unsayable of all are works of art, mysterious existences whose life endures alongside ours, which passes away.”
This is my first time reading Rilke and I wish I had not waited so long. This is a short collection of 10 letters that Rilke wrote to a young aspiring poet. In these letters, he grapples with his own philosophy and beliefs about love, solitude, the human experience, what makes a good life and living as an artist. I connected with so much of what he wrote, especially when he speaks of the importance of being open and accepting of all emotions and human experiences. His language is beautiful and poetic and I now feel I must immediately get hold of some of his works of poetry. I read the Penguin Classics Edition.
There were so many quotes I loved, but here are just a few:
- In recommending his favourite books, Rilke writes: “A world will come over you, the joy, the richness, the incomprehensible greatness of a new world. Live in these books for a while, learn from them what seems to be worth learning, but above all love them. This love will be repaid you thousands and thousands of times, and however your life may turn out - this love, I am sure of it, will run through the weave of your becoming as one of the most important threads of all among the other threads of your experiences, disappointments and joys.”
- “But only someone who is ready for anything and rules nothing out, not even the most enigmatic things, will experience the relationship with another as a living thing and will himself live his own existence to the full. For imagining an individual’s existence as a larger or smaller room reveals to us that most people are only acquainted with one corner of their particular room, a place by the window, a little area to pace up and down.”
- “Things are not all as graspable and sayable as on the whole we are led to believe; most events are unsayable, occur in a space that no word has ever penetrated, and most unsayable of all are works of art, mysterious existences whose life endures alongside ours, which passes away.”
liliak03's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
I wish I had come across this earlier. What a read, I look forward to how much I will revisit this in the future.
taintedfunk's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
How heartwarming :)
ethanrwilliams's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.75