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‘This terrifying beginning’

A new translation of Rilke’s masterpiece
by
July 2022, no. 444

Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Alison Croggon

Newport Street Books, $24.99 pb, 98 pp

‘This terrifying beginning’

A new translation of Rilke’s masterpiece
by
July 2022, no. 444

Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies were begun in a burst of inspiration while he was staying at Duino Castle near Trieste in 1912. Walking along the battlements after receiving a difficult business letter, he heard a mysterious voice calling to him from an approaching storm. Their composition was then interrupted by a personal and artistic crisis that lasted until 1922, when he finished them in an even more astonishing afflatus which also included the gift of their companion-masterpiece, the Sonnets to Orpheus, at the Château de Muzot in Switzerland.

Humphrey Bower reviews 'Duino Elegies' by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Alison Croggon

Duino Elegies

by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Alison Croggon

Newport Street Books, $24.99 pb, 98 pp

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