Available Formats
Paperback
Published: 8th May 2002
Paperback
Published: 2nd May 2016
Hardback
Published: 15th December 2001
Hardback
Published: 17th August 2021
Letters to a Young Poet
By (Author) Rainer Maria Rilke
Translated by Stephen Mitchell
Foreword by Stephen Mitchell
Random House USA Inc
Vintage Books
1st October 1989
United States
General
Non Fiction
B
128
Width 105mm, Height 174mm, Spine 9mm
68g
The ten letters collected here are arguably the most famous and beloved letters of our century. Written when Rainer Maria Rilke was himself still a young man with most of his greatest work before him, they are addressed to a student who had sent Rilke some of his work, asking for advice about becoming a writer. The two never met, but over a period of several years Rilke wrote him these ten letters, which have been enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of readers for what Stephen Mitchell calls the "vibrant and deeply felt experience of life" that informs them.
"The common reader will be delighted by Stephen Mitchells new translation of that slim and beloved volume by Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet . . . the best yet."
--Los Angeles Times
Rainer Marie Rilke, the great Austro-German poet, was the author of many works including Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus. Stephen Mitchell's translations include Ahead of All Parting- The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, The Book of Job, Tao Te Ching, and, most recently, Bhagavad-Gita. He lives in California.