Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke - Vol II: 1910-1926 Book

J etters of RAINER MARIA RILKE VOLUME TWO 1910 1926 Translated by JANE BANNARD GREENE and M. D. HERTER NORTON W W NORTON 6-COMPANY INC NEW YORK Copyright, 1947, 1948, by W. W. NORTON COMPANY, INC. New York, N. Y. - First Edition Note Certain of the letters in this volume were first printed in The Kenyan Review, Autumn, 1947 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HE PUBLISHERS BY VAIL-BALLOU PRESS Phot. Henri Martinie, Paris Rainer Maria Rilke 1925 CONTENTS TRANSLATORS NOTE 9 INTRODUCTION 1 1 THE LETTERS 13 NOTES 398 LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS 45 1 INDEX 453 ILLUSTRATIONS RAINER MARIA RILKE Frontispiece from Sails. Rainer Maria Rilkes Schweiaer Jahre Facing page RILKE WITH MAX REINHARDT AND GERHARD HAUPT MANN from Philobiblon, 1935 FACSIMILE OF A FRAGMENT OF THE TENTH ELEGY from Dichtung und Volkstum, 1936 RILKE WITH PAUL VALERY IN THE GARDEN AT ANTHY l6o from Hommage des ecrivains Strangers a Paul VaUry RILKES GRAVE IN RARON 161 from Inselschiff, Christmas, 1936 TRANSLATORS NOTE As IN the preceding volume of LETTERS 1892-1910, all these letters, unless otherwise indicated in the Notes, have been taken from the two editions of the general collection of Rilkes LETTERS, edited by his daughter and son-in-law, Ruth Sieber-Rilke and the late Carl Sieber, and published by Insel-Verlag. Again we are deeply indebted to Herbert Steiner for his invaluable assistance. INTRODUCTION THE present volume of letters covers the years from the completion of The Notebooks of Make Laurids Brigge to Rilkes death in De cember 1926, nearly five years after he had finished the Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus, his last big works. The period falls into four distinct divisions the years before the first World War, when a harrowing reaction from the psychological strain of writing the Make drove Rilke in mounting desperation to country after coun try, to person after person the wartime period itself, in which the flare-up of excited, almost exalted response quickly gave way to a persisting dismay at the phenomenon of war, what he himself calls the whole sad man-made complication the search in Switzerland, from 1919 to 1921, for congenial surroundings in which to bring to their conclusion the long-despaired-of Elegies and finally, the end of the quest, Muzot, which was to be his home for the brief remainder of his days. So much of what is generally known of the outer events and inner currents of Rilkes lire emerges directly from the letters themselves that little need be added. Letters continued to be as necessary to him both artistically and humanly, as they had been in his youth. They remained always a kind of transition from the verbal and communicating to the writing of work which is no longer addressed to any single individual. There is a great increase in the number of his correspondents. The letters to Clara are fewer now and their importance far less. To Lou Andreas-Salome, on the other hand, he continued to speak most easily and, to the end, it was to her that he turned in moments of crisis. Other major relationships were those with Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis-Hohenlohe and, in the last years, with Frau Nanny Wun derly-Volkart. Unfortunately the important letters to the latter are at present available only in fragmentary form unsuitable for inclusion here. The greatest difference between this second volume of correspond ence and its predecessor is the subtle but quite conscious shift in Rilkes point of view, a shift to which attention has already been called in the introduction to the first volume and which is best ex pressed in the poem Turning included in the present pages. Having schooled his eye to see with a painters accuracy, he was now able to bring this acquired objectivity to bear on his inner vision. As a re sult, there are far fewer visually descriptive passages and a greater preoccupation with psychological and spiritual insights. This is notRead More