Rainer Maria Rilke's The Book of Hours

Reviews / Votes

Whether we see this collection of poems as an example of personal devotional musing or read it as the 'seed of Rilke's subsequent development,' it is well worth our attention. This is a lively and insightful work of criticism, scholarship, and creative translation. * MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW * One of the pillars of 20th-century poetry, Rilke (1875-1926) was born in Prague, spent his life in Paris, Russia, and Germany, and died and was buried in Switzerland. He merits repeated studies, interpretations, and translations, and this one of his three-volume Stundenbuch (1899, 1901, 1903) is among the finest.... In his thorough introduction, Hutchinson ... casts these poems in a new light, adding depth to them as presented in previous editions. * CHOICE * [The translator] anticipates the critical reader.and responds creatively to the huge challenge.There are fascinating reflections of the poet-translator on technical matters.as well as rhyme and rhythm.... Ben Hutchinson's introduction and detailed notes provide an academic insight and context. * BROWN BOOK * The whole collection is newly translated here in fine, faithful versions by Susan Ranson, who captures the sonorities of the verse with apparent ease and handles the difficulties of Rilke's over-fondness for rhyme very judiciously. * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT * Ranson ... recognizes the ambiguity which pervades the original, and has tried to find a balance between faithfully reproducing ambituigies and 'recognizing some duty of clarity to the reader. * TRANSLATION AND LITERATURE *