Michael Winkler

Major Figures of Turn-of-the-Century Austrian Literature

Contents: The Brenner, Enrica von Handel Mazzetti, Oedoen von Horvath, Franz Kafka, Theodor Kramer, Max Mell, Gustav Meyrink, Franz Nabl, Leo Perutz, The Prague Circle, Karl Schoenherr, Jura Soyfer, Georg Trakl, Ernst Weiss, Stefan Zweig.

Rilke : ein europäischer Dichter aus Prag

Demetz, Peter, Joachim W. Storck, and Hans Dieter Zimmermann, eds. Rilke: ein europaischer Dichter aus Prag. Wurzburg: Konigshausen and Neumann, 1998. 223 pp. EUR 35.00 hardcover. Has any German-language writer moved so avidly among disparate European countries, acquaintances, and influences as did Rilke? Born in Prague, but glad to leave it and ceaselessly nomadic, he cultivated relationships literary and personal throughout Europe. The editors of this book rightly perceive that this disposition and life-history make Rilke a plausible forerunner for the present age of European integration. Rilke: ein europaischer Dichter aus Prag presents the proceedings of a colloquium held at the Prague Goethe Institute in November 1994. There are nineteen essays in all, discussing different aspects of Rilkes work and life in the context of his native city (the first seven pieces here) and of the rest of Europe in which he was at home (the remaining twelve). Only Rilkes travels to Spain go curiously unmentioned. As one expects from conference proceedings, the interest and significance of these studies vary, but several make good reading and a few will claim lasting usefulness. Students of Rilkes biography cannot afford to miss this volume, as it contains numerous letters and other documents published here for the first time, and scrutinizes his Prague connections with particular care. Scholars interested less in the life than in the work will also want to browse the book for the light shed here and there on individual texts and on undeniably major aspects of creative activity. Peter Demetz opens the collection by revisiting his book Rene Rilkes Prager Jahre. Demetz starts by reflecting on the changing tenor of Rilke criticism generally, and these are pages that everyone who writes on Rilke should read, since reflection on such trends is rare but vital. Kurt Krolops contribution, discussing Rilke im nordbohmischen Regionalkontext, contains a small treasure: a hilarious sequence of letters-hitherto unpublished-from the sixteen-year-old Rilke to the editor of the Mittheilungen des Nordbohmischen ExcursionsClubs, to which he hopefully submitted ein Gedichtchen and an accompanying letter signed Maria Rene Rilke. This signature will be seized upon with delight by those interested in Rilke and gender, together with Rilkes follow-up letter, in which he apologizes at elaborate length for the unangenehme Uberraschung that he must impart to the editor: Jedenfalls meiner Unterschrift zufolge, haben Sie mich, sehr geehrter Herr, fur eine Vertreterin des schonen Geschlechtes angesehen and sich hierin-leider-getauscht. The letters courtly eloquence in the face of this misunderstanding is marvelously funny, but it also shows the boy Rilke flourishing his skills as a born letter writer. The next five contributions focus on Rilkes image of the Czech people (Jaromir Louzil), on his Czech translators (Jindrich Pokorny, in a piece riddled with amusing typos), and on his relations to Czech literature and painting (Emil Skala), to the Janovice estate and the Nadherny family (Jioi Tywoniak), and to the Slavic world generally (Antonin Mistan). …