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"One of the 20th century's most exquisite poets, Rilke also experimented with prose. The two stories included here are set in Prague, where Rilke was born and raised, and reflect the tensions between the German nationals living there and the Czech-speaking majority . . . They are important for their insight into the development of Rilke's writing. For students of German literature, Esterhammer's excellent introduction is worth the price of the book." —Library Journal
The first English translation of two stories from Rilke’s earliest prose work.
Two Stories of Prague signifies the maturation of a poet and of a people. Although most readers know Rilke as a mature, cosmopolitan poet, here we can discern a young writer self-consciously exploring his development as a man and his emergence as an artist. Angela Esterhammer writes that in symbolic, stylistic, and biographical terms these stories "record the process by which Rilke fashions himself into an independent, empowered individual."
A Choice Outstanding Academic Book.
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ANGELA ESTERHAMMER is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at University of Western Ontario. She is author of Creating States: Studies in the Performative Language of John Milton and William Blake (1994).
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