Published 2016 (Portuguese translation and
afterword by José Miranda Justo).
“Dieses vor allem: fragen Sie sich in der stillsten
Stunde ihrer Nacht: ‘muss ich schreiben?’ Graben Sie in sich nach einer tiefen
Antwort. Und wenn diese zustimmed lauten sollte, wenn Sie mit einem starken und
einfachen ‘Ich muss’ dieser ernsten Frage begegnen dürfen, dann bauen Sie Ihr
Leben nach dieser Notwendingkeit.”
This book has
been my favourite book for twenty years or more. When I was attending the
Goethe Institute I had access to its library which is huge. I could request
any book I wanted, and the services of the Goethe library would provide me with
it. It was literally manna from heaven...Consequently, I never had a copy for
myself. Until now. This gorgeous edition translated from German into Portuguese
(bilingual edition), produced something worth having. It's a fine addition to
my German library at home. On top of that the translation is far from
serviceable. Apart from this translation, I only had come into contact with the
translation done my Vasco
Graça Moura which is a different beast altogether.
I think the
first time I wrote about Rilke was in 2008. What more can I say that I haven’t said
before? Apparently still lots remained to be said and written…
Rilke’s poems
are considered quite difficult to translate from the German, and frankly, I
even have trouble understanding them in English and Portuguese. His letters, on
the other hand, are quite comprehensible and even inspirational. That's why,
when given the chance, I always recommend this book to some of my literate
friends. Some of them "get it", some don't. That's Rilke for you. But
what shines out of everything he writes, be it in German, English or in
Portuguese, rendered by anyone, is the astonishing purity and largeness of his
poet’s heart, even when he's writing prose, as it's the case here. That's one
of the reasons why I love bilingual editions of something that lives
particularly close to my heart. I get to follow the text line by line as I think
about the choices done by the translator. Besides enjoying the original, I'm
able to think about the translation as well, namely about the solutions found
by the translator.
What does Rilke
have that other poets do not possess? Talent is not enough, and vocabulary is
not enough. What about rhyming words and phrases…? What Rilke achieved and what
he advises us to seek is a state of Nirvana where certain characteristics
synchronize to produce a poem that is at once lyrical and philosophical,
understated yet powerful, terse yet tactful, and most importantly, honest and
heartfelt.
I've always read
the letters as if they were already detached from the persons they were sent
to, and now they can be also addressed to each one of us...
One of the most
valuable lessons I took away from reading these letters more than 20 years ago,
was trying to create a private space to be creative. It goes without saying
that in this day and age (it was true 20 years, and it’s still true), I’ve had
people trying to pry me out with “accusations” of being anti-social (“bicho do
mato” as we say in Portuguese; I’m not sure about the translation, but it means
something like “someone who has never seen daylight”). In creative growth I
consistently run into the idea that you do that in your twenties and then you
simply produce. Not so. I want to produce, and also be creative in other areas,
be it in software developing, in poetry, or in prose. I still want to be
creative in my old age, if I get to live that far, no matter the area I’m
involved in…
And now, as
Rilke said, “Und wo ein Großer und
Einmaliger spricht, haben die Kleinen zu schweigen.” Therefore, I remain
silent.
NB: Justo's
afterword is also something worth reading. I've read a lot of Rilke, but I'd
never thought about his work in those terms. Enlightening... 5 stars for the
original, and 5 stars for the translation and afterword.
