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Orpheus (Hardcover)

by Don Paterson (Author)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

Hardcover: 84 pages
Publisher: Faber and Faber; New edition edition (5 Oct 2006)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0571222684
ISBN-13: 978-0571222681
Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.2 x 1.6 cm

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 423,772 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Published in 1923, near the end of his life, the fifty-five Sonnets to "Orpheus" were completed in less than a month and famously described by Rilke as 'perhaps the most mysterious - in the way they arrived and entrusted themselves to me - the most enigmatic dictation I have ever received: the whole first part was taken down in a single breathless act of obedience, between the 2nd and 5th of February 1922, without one word being in doubt or having to be changed.' The result was both a masterpiece of German literature and a landmark of modern poetry, pondering the dismembered fate of Orpheus in a belated world - the mythical poet and son of Apollo who could enchant beasts and birds and spirits with his song, and who might have brought his Eurydice back from the dead, had he not turned to look before she set foot in the world of the living...Don Paterson's translation is an act of intensely sustained creative attention, which has produced new poems of remarkable independence. At the same time - and for the first time - the lucidity of this great sequence has been honoured, as well as Rilke's intuition that 'it was the task of transforming the sonnet, of picking it up and, as it were, taking it along on the run, without destroying it, that was in this instance my particular problem and my project.'

About the Author

Don Paterson has won the T. S. Eliot Prize (twice), the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Prize.

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Orpheus., 3 Mar 2007

By	B. Field - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The first work that has been used as the springboard for this is excellent, and if you don't know of the unusual circumstance in which the composition took place then look up Rilke on wikipedia. The sonnets are a probing, questioning look at the world, metaphysical speculations, experience and loss.
As a version of Rilke's sonets, this is a work of brilliance; having looked at other translations as well as the original I feel that this is the most pleasing to read without sacrificing too much of the artistic integrity of the original text.
However, because it is a rhyming edition, etc. it is not accurate on a word-for-word level; I tend to prefer this to a translation, but others may disagree (it tells you that it is a version and not a translation on the cover anyway).
The notes on translation, etc at the end are also very interesting and provide some insight into any interpretive bias that Paterson may have introduced.

I like Paterson as a poet, but I prefer this to the collections of his own compostitions: I liked the sonnets die orpheus by Rilke, and I think that this well-presented edition will meet all but the highest expectations, and pleasantly surprise those who have set the bar low.

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