Cover of Letters on Life

Letters on Life

Gleaned from Rainer Maria Rilke’s voluminous, never-before-translated correspondence, this volume offers the best writings and personal philosophy of one of the twentieth century’s greatest poets. The result is a profound vision of how the human drive to create and understand can guide us in every facet of life. Arranged by theme–from everyday existence with others to the exhilarations of love and the experience of loss, from dealing with adversity to the nature of inspiration–here are Rilke’s thoughts on how to infuse everyday life with beauty, wonder, and meaning. Intimate, stylistically masterful, brilliantly translated and assembled, and brimming with the passion of Rilke, Letters on Life is a font of wisdom and a perfect book for all occasions.

Subject
philosophy
Setting
20th century
Audience
new adult
Form
poetryessaysepistolary

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Letters on Life? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Letters on Life. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Eros the Bittersweet Shares poetry, nonfiction, philosophy
  2. Breaking the Alabaster Jar: Conversations with Li-Young Lee Shares poetry, nonfiction
  3. Selected Prose, Daybooks, and Papers Shares poetry, nonfiction, essays
  4. Perfect Love, Imperfect Relationships Healing the Wound of the Heart by Welwood, John ( Author ) ON May-03-2007, Paperback Shares nonfiction

“People who read Letters on Life tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Papers and Journals
  2. Awake at Work: 35 Practical Buddhist Principles for Discovering Clarity and Balance in the Midst of Work's Chaos
  3. A Heart as Wide as the World: Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness
  4. The Stars Down to Earth and Other Essays on the Irrational in Culture

“If you want more of the same (philosophy), start with these.”

  1. My Heart Laid Bare
  2. Walking Light: Memoirs and Essays on Poetry
  3. The Night Sky: Writings on the Poetics of Experience
  4. The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice: First Journals and Poems 1937-1952

“If it was the poetry that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Bluets
  2. I : Six Nonlectures
  3. The Book of Beginnings and Endings
  4. Forces of Imagination: Writing on Writing

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living
  2. The Kahlil Gibran Reader: Inspirational Writings
  3. Heidegger: A Very Short Introduction
  4. A Year with Rilke: Daily Readings from the Best of Rainer Maria Rilke