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Duino Elegies

Rainer Maria Rilke

Translated by Stephen Cohn

Duino Elegies
10% off eBook (EPUB)
Categories: 20th Century, German, Translation
Imprint: Fyfield Books
Publisher: Carcanet Press
Available as:
eBook (EPUB) Needs ADE!
(Pub. Jul 2012)
9781847776211
£9.95 £8.96
Paperback (240 pages)
(Pub. Jul 1996)
9780856358371
Out of Stock
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  • Description
  • Author
  • Reviews
  • With all his contradictions, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is one of the fathers of modern literature and the Duino Elegies one of its great monuments. Begun in 1912 but not completed until 1922, they are 'modern' in almost every sense the word has acquired; yet Rilke was by temperament anti-modern, a snob and a romantic. He was devoted to the three A's: Architecture, Agriculture, Aristocracy.

    The Duino Elegies aroused real excitement among English readers when the now-dated Leishman/Spender versions first appeared in the 1930s. Stephen Cohn, the distinguished artist and teacher, has worked for over three years to complete this outstanding new translation. Peter Porter writes: 'Your translation must have grandeur, essential size in its component parts, and speed to catch the marvellous twists of Rilke's imagination.' He adds, 'Cohn has met all these requirements.' These versions show a rare empathy with the originals and an instinct for the right diction and cadence. They are, says Porter, 'the most flowing and organic I have read.'

    For more information on Rilke and Cohn, go to rainermariarilke.net.
    Rainer Maria Rilke
    RAINER MARIA RILKE was born in Prague in 1875. Following an unhappy period spent at military academies, he studied a variety of subjects at the universities of Prague, Munich, and Berlin. It was in Munich that he first met Lou Andreas-Salomé, with whom he travelled to Russia in 1899 and 1900. ... read more
    Stephen Cohn
    Stephen Cohn was a sculptor, painter and printmaker. His translations of Rilke for Carcanet include the Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus . For more information on Rilke and Cohn, go to rainermariarilke.net . ... read more
    Praise for Rainer Maria Rilke 'Cohn has added a natural eloquence of his own which makes his version of the Elegies the most flowing and organic of those I have read.' - Peter Porter 'The reader with no German can enjoy this volume from beginning to end.' - Stephen Spender 'Rilke has never "moved" so naturally into another language as he seems to do in Stephen Cohn's renderings of these poems.' - John Bayley 'Cohn has added a natural eloquence of his own which makes his version of the Elegies the most flowing and organic of those I have read.' - Peter Porter 'Rilke has never "moved" so naturally into another language as he seems to do in Stephen Cohn's renderings of these poems.' - John Bayley 'The reader with no German can enjoy this volume from beginning to end.' - Stephen Spender
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