Lost Son, a novel of Rilke
Synopsis:
The story of Rainer Maria Rilke, author of the beloved "Letters to a Young Poet" and "The Duino Elegies," and one of the most uniquely sensitive artists of the modern age.
From Rilke's troubled beginnings--reared as a girl until age six, then sent to military school for five miserable years--through his later experiences in the midst of World War I, Lost Son dramatizes the troubles and triumphs this immensely vulnerable personality enountered as he made his way in the modern world. Here is Rilke in the grip of his greateat artistic struggle: life itself.
Spanning Western Europe from 1875 to 1917, Lost Son brings Rilke's significant relationships powerfully alive, including his close friendships with the sculptor Rodin and the German expressionist painter Paula Modersohn-Becker. And at the heart of the novel is Rilke's legendary attachment to his one-time lover and lifelong muse, the incomparable Lou Andreas-Salomé—confidante of Nietzsche, and later, Freud.
More than a fictionalized biography, Lost Son is framed by a bewitched young figure traveling in Rilke's footsteps generations after the poet's death. The result is a dark and intimate fantasia on Rilke's work, an exploration of the forever imperfect loyalties one faces in life, and a lyrical meditation upon the distances that can separate life and art.
"I found myself torn, lingering over passages and yet eager to rush on...I'm not sure it's right to see Lost Son simply as a fictional biography of Rilke. It is also Cunningham's spiritual autobiography, his own fierce identification with the poet's commitment to art...mesmerizing."—The Oregonian
"Gripping and beautifully written...incredibly ambitious."—Strand Books, New York
"This is no dry biography. Rather, with beautifully expressive prose, M. Allen Cunningham is able not only to evoke the poet's angst, but also to get the reader to empathize with it....You'll want to savor every word."—Historical Novels Review
"So sensitive and sad—as befits a poet—that it sent me to the obvious destination: a book of Rilke's poems."—Good Housekeeping
Topics/Categories:
Auguste Rodin, Biography, fin-de-siecle, Lou Andreas-Salome, Novel, Paris, Poetry, Rainer Maria Rilke
Genre:
General Arts, General Novel, General Short Stories, Literary Fiction, Narrative Poetry
Type of Work:
Publishers:
Awards:
One of the Oregonian's Top 10 Books of 2007
Purchase From:
Original Publish Date:
May 1, 2007
Formats and associated ISBNs:
ISBN-10: 1-932961-34-8 ; ISBN-13: 978-1-932961-34-8
Formats:
Hardcover ; Paperback (May 2008)
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