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Published for the first time in 90 years, the Sackville-Wests' translation is both a fascinating historical document and a magnificent blank-verse rendering of Rilke's poetry cycle.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.
Review
The deepest mysteries of existence embodied in the most delicate and precise images. For me, the greatest poetry of the 20th century -- Philip Pullman - Guardian
About the Author
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is considered one of the greatest German-language writers to have ever lived. He is best known for his Duino Elegies, Sonnets to Orpheus, and The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge.
Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962) was an English novelist, poet and garden designer. Born to an aristocratic family in the Kent countryside, she became a prolific and successful author, publishing many novels and a dozen volumes of poetry.
Edward Sackville-West (1901-65) was an English novelist and music critic who, in his later years, became a member of the House of Lords. He wrote several well-received novels and biographies and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his book on Thomas de Quincey.
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