Letters to a Young Poet
Rainer Maria Rilke
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Recommended by Caleb
‘This has been my pocket companion ever since it was gifted to me. Each entry has that uncanny ability to describe exactly what you’re going through at that moment. It’s the ultimate self-help book for self-help haters and a perfect gift for the creative in your life – or anyone for that matter.’
From the publisher
At the start of the twentieth century, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a series of letters to a young officer cadet, advising him on writing, love, sex, suffering and the nature of advice itself; these profound and lyrical letters have since become hugely influential for writers and artists of all kinds. This book also contains the 'Letter from a Young Worker', a striking polemic against Christianity written in letter-form, near the end of Rilke's life. In Lewis Hyde's introduction, he explores the context in which these letters were written and how the author embraced his isolation as a creative force. Charlie Louth's afterword discusses the similarities and contrasts of the two works, and Rilke's religious and sexual wordplay. This edition also contains a chronology, notes, and suggested further reading.