Status Updates From Conversations with Rilke (P...

‘The morning—a closed space—it is hardly conducive to an enterprise of any scope—the afternoon allows me to follow as far as possible an idea / an inspiration. I can have the evening, if necessary the whole night, if by chance the momentum continues. The morning is cut off by the meal which invariably limits it. But the afternoon—leads into the infinitude of night and thus was the true domain—sardonic & penetrating—’

‘This foreign language—he claimed to make use of—to spare his own—possessed its privileged words—its singular turns of phrase—unrivalled beauties. Already, in a letter from 1907, Rilke confessed to—Norlind—to beware of the temptation to write in a foreign language, that sometimes he used—to say certain things that would have been simply impossible to express in another language—some shortcomings of the native tongue’

‘Readers with some knowledge of the languages involved will necessarily be in a position to travel more deeply into this terrain, but those with English alone will at least be able to define features within the panorama—One day in January—envelopes—containing a letter and the other printed matter, departed separately—Sometimes the colour of the wax or seal would change—like dehiscent fruits—’

I have adored Rilke since I first read The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge at university.

I have a book of essays, letters, and poems about grief that I bought and have yet to crack. But it sits there and it is comforting to me.

I am excited to see what’s in store in this book about the legend himself.