Duino Elegies, Deluxe Edition: The Original English Translation of Rilke's Landmark Poetry Cycle, by Vita and E Dward Sackville-West - Reissued for t

The first-ever English translation of Rilke's landmark poetry cycle, by Vita and Edward Sackville-West ­- reissued for the first time in 90 years

In 1931, Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press published a small run of a beautiful edition of Rainer Maria Rilke's Duino Elegies, in English translation by the writers Vita and Edward Sackville-West. This marked the English debut of Rilke's masterpiece, which would eventually be rendered in English over 20 times, influencing countless poets, musicians and artists across the English-speaking world.

Published for the first time in 90 years, the Sackville-Wests' translation is both a fascinating historical document and a magnificent blank-verse rendering of Rilke's poetry cycle. Featuring a new introduction from critic Lesley Chamberlain, this reissue casts one of European literature's great masterpieces in fresh light.

Author: Rainer Maria Rilke
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Published: 02/22/2022
Pages: 112
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 8.58h x 5.43w x 0.71d
ISBN: 9781782277798

About the Author
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is considered one of the greatest German-language writers to have ever lived. He published his first collection of verse, Leben und Lieder (Life and Songs), in 1894, while he was still at school, and continued to write poetry and prose throughout his life, becoming a master of both. He is perhaps best known for his Duino Elegies, Sonnets to Orpheus, and The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. Rilke died in Switzerland in 1926, after being diagnosed with leukaemia, and was buried in the churchyard of Raron. His chosen epitaph was 'Rose, oh pure contradiction, to be no-one's sleep under so many lids.'

Vita Sackville-West was an English novelist, poet and garden designer. Born to an artistocratic family in the Kent countryside, she became a prolific and successful author, publishing many novels and a dozen volumes of poetry. Sackville-West had a long, intense relationship with Virginia Woolf, and was the main inspiration for the titular character in Woolf's Orlando.

Edward Sackville-West was an English novelist and music critic who, in his later years, became a member of the British House of Lords. He wrote several well-received novels and biographies, winning the James Tait Black Memorial Prize dor his biography of Thomas De Quincey, and became one of the most respected music critics of his generation.