Auguste Rodin

Rilke, Rainer Maria, 1875-1926Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.5

Word count: 156K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Auguste Rodin by Rainer Maria RilkeAuthor: Rilke, Rainer Maria, 1875-1926,Language: German, Class: NB: Fine Arts: Sculpture, Release Date: May 4, 2014

Editor's review

Rilke writing on Rodin is itself a classic case of modern art criticism meeting the poet's essay. This German-language work centers on the sculptor Auguste Rodin and falls under fine arts and sculpture; it is short but shows how a poet looks at sculpture: attending to form, surface, light, and the overall presence of the work rather than piling up biographical anecdotes. Its value for readers lies not in a chronological life of Rodin but in learning a language for looking at sculpture. As a poet, Rilke writes German with attention to rhythm and imagery, so reading it offers both art criticism and a sense of prose style. The book suits cross-reading in art history and literature, especially readers encountering Rodin's work and seeking to understand the context of early twentieth-century European art criticism. As a public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg, it is free to obtain and easy to revisit. Reading it alongside a catalogue of Rodin's works, looking at images while reading the text, is recommended.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Rodin's sculpture and European modern art
Literary readers curious about the poet Rilke's art essays
Learners who read German and need original art-critical texts
Students needing supplementary criticism for art history courses

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a detailed biography and anecdotes of Rodin's life
General readers with no German who do not wish to use a translation
Readers hoping for a picture-heavy album with many plates

Reading tips

Browse images of Rodin's major works first, then read the text to build a direct visual comparison.
Read slowly chapter by chapter, noting Rilke's words for form and light.
Keep a notebook and copy out viewing approaches and sentences you find illuminating.
After finishing, return to the sculpture images to test whether the text has changed how you see.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a biography of Rodin?

Not a biography in the usual sense. It is Rilke's art-critical text written in German, focused on looking at and interpreting Rodin's sculpture rather than narrating the sculptor's life chronologically; readers should not approach it expecting a biography.

Can I read it without knowing German?

The original is in German, so direct reading requires German. Readers without German can use a translation or read bilingually, but should note stylistic differences between translations; an annotated edition is recommended.

Why read art criticism written by a poet?

Rilke's identity as a poet gives this criticism a strong linguistic awareness: he attends to sculpture's form, surface, and light, not just Rodin's life. For readers wanting to learn how to describe artworks, this approach is instructive.

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About the author

Rilke, Rainer Maria, 1875-1926 Author

Rilke, Rainer Maria (1875–1926) is one of the most influential poets in German-language literature. Publicly available information is limited, and details of his life should not be overstated. Judging from the thirteen works held in the collection, his writing spans poetry, prose and essays on art: Neue Gedichte and its sequel Der Neuen Gedichte: Anderer Teil are known for their distilled imagery and the "thing poem" approach, drawing existential experience from concrete objects; Das Stunden-Buch and Das Marien-Leben show a strong religious and meditative character; Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge portrays urban loneliness and perception through fragmentary narration; and Auguste Rodin reflects his close observation of the visual arts. His delicate, symbolic language has had a lasting influence on modern poetry in Chinese and on the German poetic tradition.