Review by Choice Review
Although she recognizes in her introduction that many critics find these tales "insignificant to Rilke's career," Esterhammer provides the first English translation of Rilke's Zwei Prager Geschichten ("K"onig Bohusch" and "Die Geschwister," 1899). These two novellas were published with an apologetic and distancing foreword just two years after Rilke began them, as he recognized that his concerns and style had changed since their inception. Nevertheless, these early tales are of interest to Rilke followers, as they reflect his perceptions of his hometown and its cultural and political situation. "King Bohush," based on a well-known scandal of intrigue and murder, shows the tensions between the Germans and Czechs in Prague and the need for the Czechs to find their own artistic expression; "The Siblings" involves some of the same characters and continues the theme of Czech self-identity. In the introduction, which provides solid background material, Esterhammer argues that these stories are crucial in marking Rilke's maturation. The translation is smooth, and Esterhammer has taken care to recognize Rilke's intermittent use of Czech. Undergraduate and up. E. L. Vines; Albany College of Pharmacy of Union University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
In these stories, which are quite unlike Rilke's mature work and which he later disowned, the great German poet is a beginning writer coming to terms with himself and his birthplace. Each story is an extended treatment of Czech subjects and perhaps measures the unease Rilke felt growing up in a Czech city as a member of an alien ruling class and yet being--unusually--involved with Prague's Czech-speaking intelligentsia. In each, the main Czech characters are portrayed as fairly simple people whose best hope for salvation lies in remaining true to that simplicity. The protagonist of "King Bohush" is a hunchback who works at menial jobs but has something of the poet in him. Rilke details Bohush's dealings with various Czech nationalists, one of whom strangles him after Bohush betrays the movement. In "The Siblings," a teenage Czech serving girl becomes mature and independent after her father's death. Although clearly juvenilia, the stories, well translated and informatively prefaced, are yet accomplished enough to be of interest, especially in light of Rilke's overall importance. ~--John Shreffler
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
These two tales, here translated into English for the first time, reveal a little-known aspect of the celebrated German poet, who was born and educated in Prague and profoundly influenced by his years there. The stories depict the ethnic struggle between the Germans and the Czechs that riveted that city during the 1890s. ``King Bohush,'' inspired by an actual murder, examines Czech intellectual life of the period. Bohush is a simple-minded hunchback who naively meets with a group of artists and writers at the local cafe to espouse a radical form of Czech nationalism. He confides an innocent secret to a brooding revolutionary named Rezek, who, when other members of the group are arrested, murders Bohush for supposedly betraying their cause. ``The Siblings,'' a more disturbing but less cohesive tale, explores Rezek's subsequent malign effects on an unsophisticated brother and sister, symbols of the two sides of Bohemian culture. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
One of the 20th century's most exquisite poets, noted especially for the Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus , Rilke also experimented with prose. The two stories included here are set in Prague, where Rilke was born and raised, and reflect the tensions between the German nationals living there and the Czech-speaking majority. ``King Bohush'' is the poignant tale of a hunchback ultimately murdered because he is suspected of betraying the incipient nationalist cause; ``The Siblings'' concerns a young Czech girl who loses her brother and then her mother when the family moves to Prague and yet manages to survive and even flourish. These stories are not altogether interesting in themselves--Rilke's forte is clearly lyric description, not narrative, and in any case these slightly wooden tales are a young man's work--but they are important for their insight into the development of Rilke's writing. For students of German literature, Esterhammer's excellent introduction is worth the price of the book. Primarily for academic libraries.-- Barbara Hoffert, ``Library Journal'' (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
That these two early stories by Rilke (``King Bohush'' and ``The Siblings'') are being released now may say more about the growing American interest in Prague than about any concern for the poet's apprentice fiction. But they will interest readers concerned with Rilke's literary development and with how his young mind grappled with some of the cultural problems of his day: Prague's relationship to Western Europe, particularly Germany, and the distemper of Europe at the turn of the century.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
