Hartmut Heep Libros

For too long, Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry has been glorified without looking at the man behind the author of the Duino Elegies, Sonnets to Orpheus, and the Dinggedichte . Rilke was a liar, an opportunist, and a terrible father. Unreading Rilke subjects his œuvre to a critical, unorthodox reading. The essays collected in this book offer new insights into Rilke’s psyche, his Duino Elegies , his impact on Hollywood and Russian art, and his influence on other authors. Literary theory, postmodernism, cultural studies, gender studies, and psychoanalysis help debunk the myth of Rainer Maria Rilke.This book contains contributions in English and German.

A traditional reading of Rilke's oeuvre is based on the assumption that Rainer Maria Rilke is a German poet. For decades however, Rilke has left his mark on American poetry. His multicultural biography and poetry attracted the poets and translators Randall Jarrell, Robert Lowell, and Robert Bly. In a truly bi-cultural dialogue, the author investigates issues such as poetry, manliness, war, philosophy, religion, and love. This comparative study of cultures, translations, and poetic translatability offers revolutionary new insights into the works of all four poets.