Letters to a Young Poet: With the Letters to Rilke from the "Young Poet"

Rainer Maria Rilke · Franz Xaver Kappus

Nov 2020 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by P.J. Ochlan

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3 hr 19 min

Unabridged

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About this audiobook

A work that has inspired generations, this new edition of Letters to a Young Poet features a fresh translation of Rilke's ten classic letters, along with the missing letters from the young poet himself. For nearly a century, eager writers and young poets, as well as those simply looking for a purpose in life, have embraced the wisdom of Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, first published in 1929. Most readers and scholars have long assumed that the letters from the young poet were forever lost to posterity. Yet, shockingly, these letters were recently uncovered in Germany, and now the acclaimed translator Damion Searls has not only cast a fresh eye on Rilke's original letters but also those of the "young poet," Franz Xaver Kappus, an Austrian military cadet and an aspiring poet. This timeless edition, in addition to presenting their dialogue together for the first time in English, provides a new window into the workings of Rilke's visionary poetic and philosophical mind, allowing us to reexperience the literary genius of one of the most inspiring works of twentieth-century literature.

About the author

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), the author of the Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus, was one of the greatest poets of the German language.

Franz Xaver Kappus (1883-1966) was an Austrian military officer, journalist, and poet.

P. J. Ochlan, an Audie Award-winning and multiple AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator, has recorded hundreds of audiobooks. His acting career spans more than thirty years and has also included Broadway, the New York Shakespeare Festival, critically acclaimed feature films, and regular roles in television series.

Damion Searls, the recipient of Guggenheim, NEA, and Cullman Center fellowships, has translated the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, Marcel Proust, and six Nobel Prize winners, as well as three books by Rainer Maria Rilke.

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