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A review by ablaine
Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke
3.0
Castle Boy Poetry
For scholars of Rainer Maria Rilke, I'm sure this is a much anticipated reissue of these 90-year-old English translations of his German poems. That's confirmed by the nearly 8,000 ratings this book has here on Goodreads in November of 2021 before it's even been published.
As someone who has been moved by readings of Rilke's poems in both English and German, I was surprised that I didn't get more out of reading these poems to myself. Perhaps I'm not schooled enough in early 20th-century poetry or I'm not Rilke's target audience, which arguably was people who had friends with castles or who owned castles themselves.
Rilke wrote these poems while staying in various castles, including the Castle of Duino, which gives this collection of 10 elegies their name. The new introduction from critic Lesley Chamberlain explains why cousins Edward and Vita Sackville-West are superior translators of these poems, not only for their knowledge of the German language and the nuances of early 20th-century English language, but also because they each owned castles. I mean what are the chances? Rilke himself died in a castle, despite not having the pleasure of owning one.
This book also includes the original translators' note from the 1931 edition, and even at that time, the Sackville-Wests described Rilke's poetry as "abstruse and elusive." So I guess, don't feel bad if some of this language is especially inaccessible 90 years later. If you're not a Rilke scholar of some sort, I recommend reading the introduction and translators' note to learn some more context about the poet and this edition. I would also recommend reading Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet for his musings on creative life, which I found to be far more accessible and surprisingly relatable in today's context.
I voluntarily obtained a digital version of this book free from Netgalley and Pushkin Press in exchange for an honest review.
For scholars of Rainer Maria Rilke, I'm sure this is a much anticipated reissue of these 90-year-old English translations of his German poems. That's confirmed by the nearly 8,000 ratings this book has here on Goodreads in November of 2021 before it's even been published.
As someone who has been moved by readings of Rilke's poems in both English and German, I was surprised that I didn't get more out of reading these poems to myself. Perhaps I'm not schooled enough in early 20th-century poetry or I'm not Rilke's target audience, which arguably was people who had friends with castles or who owned castles themselves.
Rilke wrote these poems while staying in various castles, including the Castle of Duino, which gives this collection of 10 elegies their name. The new introduction from critic Lesley Chamberlain explains why cousins Edward and Vita Sackville-West are superior translators of these poems, not only for their knowledge of the German language and the nuances of early 20th-century English language, but also because they each owned castles. I mean what are the chances? Rilke himself died in a castle, despite not having the pleasure of owning one.
This book also includes the original translators' note from the 1931 edition, and even at that time, the Sackville-Wests described Rilke's poetry as "abstruse and elusive." So I guess, don't feel bad if some of this language is especially inaccessible 90 years later. If you're not a Rilke scholar of some sort, I recommend reading the introduction and translators' note to learn some more context about the poet and this edition. I would also recommend reading Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet for his musings on creative life, which I found to be far more accessible and surprisingly relatable in today's context.
I voluntarily obtained a digital version of this book free from Netgalley and Pushkin Press in exchange for an honest review.