Rilke, Modernism and Poetic Tradition

by Judith Ryan

Overview

Judith Ryan traces Rilke's development from aestheticism to modernism, paying special attention to the way his work engages with other poetry and the visual arts. Taking a skeptical view of Rilke's own myth of himself as a solitary genius, Ryan shows how deeply his writing is embedded in the culture of its day. Rilke is now the most widely-read and influential German-language poet, and this study is full of surprising discoveries about his innovative and often profoundly moving poems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521661737
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/25/1999
Series:	Cambridge Studies in German
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.75(d)
Lexile:	1400L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Introduction: Rilke's writing desk; 1. Fashioning the self; 2. Arts and crafts; 3. Writing troubles; 4. The modernist turn; Conclusion: restorative modernism; Notes, Indexes.

Editorial Reviews

"...this solid literary history is recommended for all libraries." Choice

"In the flood of secondary literature on Rilke, an essential book comes along now and then. Because of its general clarity of arguments, its evidence of vast parallel reading (and viewing), the the keeness of its perceptions and arguments, and - best of all- the novelty of its insight, Professor Ryan's entry in the Cambridge Studies in German must be regarded as a major event." George C. Schoolfield, Germanic Notes and Reviews

"...an exemplary piece of scholarly writing...full of fascinating new finds...destined to change the way we think about the poet and his work." Modern Language Quarterly

From the Publisher