The Rilke Alphabet 1st Edition

I think this book is quite brilliant, an excellent introduction to Rilke's fantastic work. It is a great help in contextualising and further understanding some of the major themes in his work and it is written in a very accessible manner. Baer has built up an astonishing expertise on Rilke but the text never becomes too heavy. It is extraordinary to see how Rilke was thinking about the same topics that occupied some of his friends and acquaintances (like Walter Benjamin)- topics that remain as relevant today as they were in those times.

an extaordinary book on Rilke as poet - perhaps the best so far . It is written by an academic who knows Rilke inside- out but can write with beauty , elegance and so times movingly . A rare achievement in academia . if you are a lover of Rilke you will , i promise , read him as if for the first time ; if you have never read Rilke or even dismissed him , this book will incite you to read . The title is somewhat misleading : it is not a lexicon but a collection of essays eg D is for Destiny displaced