Saturday, May 14, 2016

Review: Stories of God by Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. by M.D. Herter Norton

Synopsis: Rilke's haunting images focus on the difficulty of communion with the ineffable in an age of disbelief, solitude, and profound anxiety. Rainer Maria Rilke felt that the world and all its joys most truly belonged to the young, and in Stories of God he captured for them the magic, charm and wisdom of fairy and folk tales. (from the online description)

Review: I was deeply disappointed in this book. Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet is lovely, lyrical and moving. This was boring and somewhat esoteric. Perhaps, as the narrator says, because the stories were meant for children (although the book isn't marketed for children) or because my brain has trouble with anything to philosophical. Whatever the reason, these are stories written by a poet, and while poets may have a command of vocabulary, they often have poor skills in stringing those words into stories. Others, of course, will most certainly disagree. But since I favor staccato poems and sharp imagines, Rilke's stories are not for me.

Bookmarks: 6 of 10

Awards: None

ISBN: 0-393-00154-7
Year Published: 1963 (Written in 1932)
Date Finished: 5-5-2016
Pages: 139

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