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Book Cover for: Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation, William H. Gass

Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation

William H. Gass

After nearly a lifetime of reading Rilke in English translation, William H. Gass undertook the task of translating Rilke's writing himself, in order to see if he could, in that way, get closer to the work he so deeply admired. Gass examines the genesis of the ideas that inform the Elegies and discusses previous translations, while writing, in his inimitable style, about Rilke the man: his character, his relationships, his life. Finally, Gass's own extraordinary translation of the Duino Elegies offers us the experience of reading Rilke with a new and fuller understanding.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
  • Publish Date: Oct 30th, 2015
  • Pages: 264
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.50in - 5.50in - 0.70in - 0.70lb
  • EAN: 9781564789129
  • Categories: • Poetry• European - German

About the Author

Gass, William H.: - William H. Gass is the author of four novels--Omensetter's Luck, Willie Masters' Lonesome Wife, The Tunnel, and Middle C--as well as two volumes of short stories and eight collections of essays. Gass was a professor of philosophy at Washington University from 1966-2000, and Director of the International Writers Center from 1990 until 2000. He has been the recipient of many awards, including the Pen-Nabokov Lifetime Achievement Award, the Lannan Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and National Book Critics Circle Awards for Criticism in 1985, 1996, and 2003, among others.

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Book Cover for: Omensetter's Luck, William H. Gass
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Book Cover for: Middle C, William H. Gass
Book Cover for: The William H. Gass Reader, William H. Gass
Book Cover for: Reading Rilke Reflections on the Problems of Translations, William H. Gass
Book Cover for: Willie Masters' Lonesome Wife, William H. Gass
Book Cover for: Review of Contemporary Fiction: Summer 2005 Vol. 25, No. 2, Robert Lowery
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Praise for this book

"Gass offers so much more than the subtitle to this gem might imply. The pages are filled with seamlessly intertwined biographical insights, textual analysis, commentary on the elusive art of translation, and fresh and vibrant new renderings of many of Rainer Maria Rilke's key works. A fitting tribute to one of the 20th century's greatest poets and everything literary criticism should be." --Library Journal