Monday, December 13, 2010

Rilke's, 'the patron saint of poetry', The Inner Sky


In my usual rummaging around the Net, I found a list of the 10 Best Poetry Lists from The Prague Post Blogs at http://blogs.praguepost.com/blog/2010/12/05/top-10-poetry-collections-of-2010/

The Inner Sky, By Rainer Maria Rilke, Translated by Damion Searles, David R. Godine Publishers

"For appreciative readers of his work, Rainer Maria Rilke is the patron saint of poetry, a touchstone to revisit at particularly difficult or introspective moments in life. Therefore, The Inner Sky, a collection of poems, journal entries, fragments and other marginalia translated for the first time into English by Damion Searls, is a fascinating book and a welcome addition to the Anglophone Rilke oeuvre, though it lacks the polished power of Rilke’s more crafted publications. In an age that profitably repackages its famous dead, including Rilke, with books ranging from Rilke on Love and Other Difficulties to Rilke on Death and Other Oddities, one must ask if this latest contribution isn’t simply another log on the lucrative green flame of the posthumous pyre. But The Inner Sky ultimately achieves more than that. Damion Searls has contributed thrilling new translations of this most familiar poet that show Rilke’s thought in its rawest form."

Other books praised:

A History of Clouds, By Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Seagull Books

Human Chain, By Seamus Heaney, Faber and Faber

The Return of Kral Majales, Edited by Louis Armand, Litteraria Pragensia

Come On All You Ghosts
, By Matthew Zapruder, Copper Canyon Press

Hazard or Fall
, By Catherine Hales, Shearsman

May, By Karel Hynek Macha, Translated by Marcela Sulak, Twisted Spoon Press

The Book of Disquiet, By Fernando Pessoa, Serpent’s Tail Classics

White Egrets, By Derek Walcott, Faber and Faber

Look Back, Look Ahead: Selected Poems, By Srecko Kosovel, Translated by Barbara Carlson and Ana Jelnikar, Ugly Duckling Presse

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