An incisive and intimate account of the life and work of the great poet Rilke, exploring the rich interior world he created in his poetry
When Rilke died in 1926, his reputation as a great poet seemed secure. But as the tide of the critical avant-garde turned, he was increasingly dismissed as apolitical, as too inward.
In Rilke: The Last Inward Man, acclaimed critic Lesley Chamberlain uses this charge as the starting point from which to explore the expansiveness of the inner world Rilke created in his poetry.
Weaving together searching insights on Rilke's life, work and reception, Chamberlain casts Rilke's inwardness as a profound response to a world that seemed ever more lacking in spirituality.
In works of dazzling imagination and rich imagery, Rilke sought to restore spirit to Western materialism, encouraging not narrow introversion but a heightened awareness of how to live with the world as it is, of how to retain a sense of transcendence within a world of collapsed spiritual certainty.
- ISBN10 1782277242
- ISBN13 9781782277248
- Publish Date 30 August 2022 (first published 28 April 2022)
- Publish Status Forthcoming
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Pushkin Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 320
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781782277248