Erich Maria Rilke. Brief biography of R.M.

We bring to your attention the work of the famous 20th century modernist poet Rainer Rilke.

Rainer Maria Rilke was born on December 4, 1875 in Prague, was a citizen of Austria, and wrote his works in German. Rilke's poems and prose are known in many countries, since his works have been translated into different languages. Below you will find a selection of Rainer Maria Rilke's early poems, specially prepared for the poet's 142nd birthday.

The translation of the selection “I am so young” (early poems 1897-1898) was carried out by Venera Dumaeva-Valieva.

Nondescript words

Plain words, clogged with need,
I'm so kind. From my holidays
I give them paints, and under my hand
Their timid smiles are becoming more and more joyful.

Their essence, which was so feared in ourselves,
From now on it is visible to everyone, as before to no one.
They haven't appeared in the song yet,
trembling they rush to me at my call.

6.11.1897
Berlin-Wilmersdorf

I'm so young

I'm so young. I wish so dearly
to give oneself to the oncoming person by sounding
and submit to the wind with insistence.
Like ivy over a garden, my passion thirsts
grow, clinging to every creature.

Without equipment, I straighten my shoulders,
while my chest breathes freely,
The hour has already been set for equipment:
from the early shores of my day
in a hurry to deliver to the interior of the country for a meeting.

28.11.1897
Berlin-Wilmersdorf

I don’t want to strive for a loud life

I don’t want to strive for a loud life,
I won’t ask anyone else about other people’s days.
I feel the flowers I wear
in the coolness of the white bowl they will open up.

Many of the spring soils have broken through,
the roots water the depths with moisture,
exhausted before the summer they fell to their knees,
but the summer will not be blessed.

28.11.1897
Berlin-Wilmersdorf

I want to become like those who are in complete secret

I want to become like those who are in complete secret
and with the tension of thought without wrinkling your forehead,
grant in rhymes only germination
from the depths of spiritual longing, so that
listen to the silence with reverence.

Not giving yourself away is the only way:
integrity is forged in solitude by ourselves,
who, having dug in, will not betray zeal.
Only if, as from the arrows of heaven, in front of him
the crawling crowd screams, he, tearing out the heart,
as the monstrance blesses them.

29.12.1897
Berlin-Wilmersdorf

You don't have to understand life

Longing for happiness and a life without anxiety
and save your days without a homeland,
and carry on dialogues for hours with eternity
the desire to indulge every day.

And that's life. The loneliest hour
rising from yesterday, growing,
with a completely different smile, with a deep
appears in silence before the Eternal

You don't have to understand life
but live in it every day
like a holiday every moment.
He wants it like that with every breath
child take more flowers
in its movement.

Weave flowers and unravel them,
but to collect in order to store,
thoughts don’t come to the child,
he walks with flowers in his hair
and fits the sweet youthful days
pick some flowers.

8.1.1898
Berlin-Wilmersdorf

I want to be a garden

I want to be a garden, by its fountains
dreams break through new flowers:
lonely people are always sad
those who are together share quiet dreams.

Where they roam, above their heads
let the words rustle like eyelashes,
and when at rest, they doze as if in a dope,
I would listen in silence to what they were dreaming.

31.12.1897
Berlin-Wilmersdorf

Don't be surprised, be quiet

The essence of my deep life,
don't be surprised, be quiet.
It doesn't shake the birch trees yet,
You can feel what the wind wants.

Silence suddenly speaks,
let the mind have no leisure.
Give breath to anyone
himself, cradled with love.

The soul learns by moving away
then that life has been successful for us,
Let's straighten it out in festive attire
yourself above idle reasoning.

19.1.1898
Berlin-Gruenewald

The dreams that beat deep within you

The dreams that beat deep within you,
release them all from the darkness.
Like fountains, they flow brighter,
from moments of turmoil and dreams
will turn into songs in you again.

And I know: I’m like children now.
Fear is the beginning, nothing more,
but there can be no end in the world,
a gesture of fear, barely noticeable,
passionate aspiration — its meaning.

22.2.1898
Berlin-Wilmersdorf

The same path

The same path every time
I walk along the garden, where the roses are just
They promise themselves to those who are dear to them.

But I feel that there is still a long time until the day,
that it's still not for me,
I must walk without unnecessary noise
still passing by.

I am the one who has just begun my journey,
and the time is not for retribution,
until they come who is more worthy
from bright and quiet creatures,
waiting for roses to unfurl in the wind
yourself like scarlet banners.

30.4.1898
Florenz-Torre al Gallo

I have a feeling

I have a presentiment: in the silence of the night
there is a certain sacrificial and long-standing experience;
Every whisper rises upward with a sigh.

The fulfilled one wants to bend over:

The black bush on the knees suppresses the murmur.
And the stars, separated this night,
rise one by one with the shadows from the roadsides.

20.3.1898
Arco(Suedtirol)

Under the canopy of pine trees

Under the canopy of pine trees from shoulders and loins
dark clothes once
like a lie I will rip off myself, cheerful,
and to the sea, pale and brave,
I'll go out into the sun young.

And like a ceremonial reception,
one boiling after another,
the waves are preparing the surf for me.
But how can I step towards him?
I'm alone...
I'm afraid, but I know: the waves are wind
They weave for me together. Barely surf
will rush ashore,
so the wind will lift my hands.

14.5.1898
Viareggo

We are sure that you liked Rainer Rilke's early poems. Be sure to check out other works from the work of this talented poet.

Brief biography of the poet, basic facts of life and work:

RAINER MARIA RILKE (1875-1926)

Rainer Carl Wilhelm Joseph Maria Rilke was born on December 4, 1875 in Prague, which at that time was the capital of Bohemia, one of the lands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The boy was the only child in the family. His father, Karl Wilhelm Joseph Rilke, came from peasants and served as an official in the railway department. Rene's mother, née Sophie Entz, was the daughter of a merchant. The family was poor, but their position as a civil servant forced them to pretend to be materially well off. In addition, the parents could not stand each other and were always arguing behind closed doors. In such an atmosphere of hypocrisy, pretense and hidden hatred between loved ones, the first years of Rene’s life passed.

The death of the first daughter, the boy's sister, finished off the hysterical Sophie: she completely retreated into exalted religiosity.

Rene's parents sent him to a military cadet school in the city of St. Pölten, near Vienna. In the fall of 1890, the young man entered the higher real military school in Marisch-Weiskirchen, but due to poor health he left the service and returned home. By that time, Rilke had already become addicted to writing.

Dissatisfied that his son would not become an officer, Mr. Rilke sent the young man to the Trade Academy in Linz. But things didn’t work out there either. Rene studied at the academy from September 1891 to May 1892 and dropped out.

Later, the young man passed the matriculation exams as an external student. And he devoted all his free time to creativity, and was unusually self-confident and even arrogant in making his creations. Rilke's first stories were written in 1894, at which time his first collection of poetry, Life and Songs, was published.

In his youth, Rilke literally filled magazines with his graphomaniac writings. Moreover, absorbed in the idea of “getting poetry out to the people,” he composed a literary letter entitled “Away, Expectations!” and with the financial support of his fiancée Valeria, a girl with great income and connections, he printed it and began sending it out free of charge to hospitals, craft and food unions, and handed it out in front of theaters and in literary and artistic clubs to which he belonged. The letter was not successful, which greatly disappointed the bride, and they separated.

For a long time, the poet combined his studies at universities with literary work. He studied for a year at the University of Prague, first at the Faculty of Philosophy, then at the Faculty of Law. At the same time he published the poetry collections “Victims of Lars” and “Crown with Dreams.” In 1896, Rilke moved to Munich to enroll in the philosophy department of the local university. However, he studied there for only two semesters. Having quit his studies, the poet went on a trip to Italy.

Rilke returned to Germany in the spring of 1897, and soon his famous meeting with Lou Andreas-Salom took place. This happened in May. Lu, along with her longtime friend, the famous African traveler Frieda von Bülow, watched a new production at the theater on Gaertner Square in Munich. Rene was among the spectators. The young poet had long been in love with the famous writer and now wanted to meet her in person. Lou Salome was thirty-five, Rilke was twenty-one. The romance began.

In the first year of their acquaintance, Salome advised the poet to change the amorphous French name Rene to the sonorous German Rainer. She instilled in the young man a love for Russia and Russian literature.

The poet quickly became attached to Salome, so much so that he followed her to Berlin. From that time on, the three of them began to live: Lou, her husband Andreas and Rilke. The young man entered the University of Berlin. Then, in one year, he learned Russian.

Lou invited the poet to Russia. Since no one had money for the trip, she wrote a series of short stories for the Gott publishing house, as well as many essays, critical articles, and essays for popular magazines. Rilke also worked intensively, wrote collections of poems “Christmas Eve” and “For My Holiday”, a collection of short prose “Past Life”, a drama “Without the Present”... But all these were weak, untalented works and did not bring any money.

On April 24, 1899 they set off for Russia. The journey lasted until June 18. Impressed by the trip, Rilke decided to translate “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” into German. A year later this plan was realized. Since then, Rilke’s translation is rightfully considered the best of the German versions of the Russian national epic... At the same time, the poet translated Chekhov’s “The Seagull” and many poems by M. Yu. Lermontov into German.

Rilke's second train to Russia took place May 7 - August 22, 1900. Rilke summed up his travels to Russia in 1905 with the collection “Book of Hours,” which consists of three parts - “Book of Monastic Life,” “Book of Pilgrimage,” and “Book of Poverty and Death.”

Upon returning to Germany, the poet broke up with Andreas-Salome. At the invitation of the artist Heinrich Vogeler, he settled in a painters' colony near Bremen in the village of Worpswede. There Rainer met the artist Clara Westhof and the sculptor Paula Becker. A year later, Rilke married the artist Clara Westhof. They had a daughter, Ruth. However, the couple soon separated. Biographers to this day cannot explain why Rilke even married Westhof, since at that time he was very much in love with Paula Becker. The woman died early, and Reiner was very worried about her death. It is believed that Rilke’s famous “Requiem for a Friend” is dedicated specifically to Paula.

Rilke’s characteristic desire to “live among the crowd, but be homeless in time” predetermined his hermit’s fate and homelessness. At the beginning of the 20th century, Rilke acquired a family coat of arms, naively believing that he belonged to an ancient knightly family - this delusion was perpetuated by his impressionistic prose poem “The Song of the Love and Death of the Cornet Christoph Rilke.”

Lack of funds and artistic quests led Rainer to Paris in 1902. There he met Auguste Rodin and wrote a book about him. In 1905, the great sculptor invited Rainer to become his secretary. Rilke happily agreed.

French impressionistic painting and symbolic poetry were reflected in Rilke's poetry, which during the Parisian period acquired plasticity, breadth of range and focus on conveying the unchanging essence of things.

Life went on as usual. In March 1906, the poet's father died. Three years later, the famous poetry collection “Requiem” was published, and soon after this Rainer met Princess Maria von Thurn-und-Taxis Hohenlohe, whose patronage and support he enjoyed until the end of his life.

At the same time, Rilke wrote dramatic and prose works. In 1911, his diverse, decadent novel The Notes of Malte Laurids Brige was published. After the publication of Rilke's book, he traveled in a Thurn und Taxis car through France and Italy, through Lyon, Avignon, San Remo, Bologna and Venice.

In Italy, for a long time, the poet's favorite refuge was the castle of Duino on the Adriatic coast. Here he created many outstanding works, including the poetic cycles “The Life of Mary” and partly “Duino Elegies”.

The First World War began, which plunged the poet into horror and despair. Rilke dedicated the poetic cycle “Five Hymns” to her. The poet was looking for support in a terrible world of suffering and death. And I remembered Lou Salom.

At the height of the war, in March 1915, Rainer begged Lou to come to him in Munich, where he was living at that time with his friend, the young artist Lulu Albert-Lazar. Andreas-Salome arrived with her next admirer, Baron Emil von Gebsattel. The meeting was warm and instilled new hopes in the poet.

And in January 1916, Rilke was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army for six months. He serves in Vienna, in the military archive, in company with Stefan Zweig and other famous German writers.

Rilke met the end of the war and the defeat of Germany in Munich. Together with the entire German nation, he was in a state of internal depression for a long time and was mainly engaged in translations.

In recent years, Rilke traveled a lot. His inspiration returned. In February 1922, in three weeks the poet completed the Duino Elegies and created the Sonnets to Orpheus. In these challenging works, Rilke developed a deeply original symbolic cosmology and rose to new metaphysical heights. The second upsurge occurred in 1924, when the poet created many masterpieces of his later lyrics.

In the mid-1920s, the poet was diagnosed with leukemia. From that time on, his life was reduced to intensive treatment either at the Val-Mont clinic (near Montreux) on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, or in various sanatoriums.

Shortly before the poet's death, intensive correspondence between Rilke and Marina Tsvetaeva began through the mediation of Lou Salome. It was dedicated to issues of poetry.

Rainer Maria Rilke died on December 29, 1926 at the Val-Mont clinic. On January 2, 1927, he was buried at Raron Castle on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)

Rilke is published little in Russia, although it seems to me that he should not only be published widely, but also taught in a particularly sensitive and thorough manner in our educational institutions, especially in the humanities. After all, Rilke, the great European poet, considered Russia his spiritual homeland. At the end of his days, he wrote about Russia: “She made me what I am; internally I come from there, the birthplace of my feelings, my inner source is there..."

By studying Rilke, we will understand ourselves better, because this brilliant poet saw, as they say, from the outside, all the best and most intimate that we have, and spoke poignantly about it.

Recognition often comes to a poet only after death, but in this case it came quite early, and Rilke died already a world-famous poet, he was proclaimed one of the greatest people (maybe second after Goethe) who wrote in German.

Rilke's work is usually classified as Austrian literature. This seems to be so, because the poet was born in Prague, then it was the territory of Austria-Hungary, he was a subject of the Austrian emperor. But essentially there was little to connect him with Austria. If we trace his roots, then Rilke the poet comes from the provincial branch of German linguistic culture, which developed in what was then Bohemia (the present-day Czech Republic). He connected to the purely intellectual, so-called refined literature of Prague - it was characterized by romanticism, the cultivation of old Prague with its cemeteries and cathedrals, bridges, statues, a penchant for the surreal, for fantasy. This branch produced such writers as Kafka, Werfel, Meyrink, Max Brod. Here are the origins of the original Rilke. Then he will live in the largest European cities, study European culture - get acquainted with Rodin and Cezanne, write articles about them, get to know Paris, get to know it both from the dark side and as the capital of modern art, the Danish writer Jens will have a huge artistic impression on him Peter Jacobsen. In a word, having completed a deep course of European education, Rilke will come to the conclusion that in Europe he lacks something most important for him as an artist and thinker. He will find this main thing in Russia, in God and alone.

Once I wondered why Anna Andreevna Akhmatova, reading European poets in the original, translated few of them into Russian, but Rilke translated, and translated when translation had not yet become an everyday literary work for her, in 1910. She translated “for herself” his poem “Loneliness” in her youth:

Oh my holy loneliness - you!

And the days are spacious, bright and clean,

Like an awakened morning garden.

Loneliness! Don't trust distant calls

And hold the golden door tightly,

There, behind her, there is hell of desires.

This motive turned out to be close to her. During this period, Akhmatova was looking for her path in poetry, looking for concentration, so as not to become an epigone of some famous poets, and loneliness was for her a vital symbol of this concentration. For Rilke too.

He rejected European practicality and lack of spirituality; he believed that this was a dead end. Let us remember that at this time the book “The Decline of Europe” by Spengler appeared. And Rilke then wrote:

Lord! Big cities

Already lost forever.

There are evil fiery rivers

Hopes are extinguished in a person,

Time disappears there without a trace...

Rilke's first meeting with Russia, which occurred in 1899, was a real spiritual shock for him. In his adolescence, he read Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, so he had an idea about it. But the immediate impetus for the trip was Rilke’s acquaintance with a native of St. Petersburg, Lou Andreas-Salome, who, as everyone notes, played a big role in the spiritual development of the poet. At one time she was close to Nietzsche and wrote a monograph about him. Lou contributed to the journal Severny Vestnik, where she published (for the first time in Russian) Rilke's story. It was Lou who inspired the poet to travel to Russia.

Rilke arrived in Moscow on Easter Eve. He stayed at a hotel with windows overlooking the Iversky Gate of the Kremlin. He was amazed by the crowds of people flocking to the chapel (which was later blown up, and now, thank God, has been restored again). Here was the famous icon of the Iveron Mother of God. According to the poet, on the very first day he was overwhelmed by an enthusiastic feeling from Russia. The next day, Leonid Pasternak (father of Boris Pasternak) accompanied Rilke to Leo Tolstoy. Then there was an acquaintance with Repin, about which Rilke later wrote to Voronina: “You see, this Repin is again a Russian person. And all real Russians are people who say in the twilight what others deny in the light. Your language is just a sound for me, but I’m not going to look for any meaning for it; There are hours when the sound itself becomes a meaning, an image, and a word. And now I know that these watches are Russian, and that I love them very much.”

Russian impressions will form the basis of Rilke’s Book of Hours. The poet's fame will begin with this book.

Rilke traveled a lot around Russia and met people. Left. And ten months later he returned here again. Studied Russian. Wrote an article “Russian Art”. I read poems by Tyutchev and Fet in the original, translated two “Prayers” by Lermontov, a poem by Z. Gippius, and a poem by Fofanov. He even translated Chekhov's "The Seagull" into German.

Rilke was particularly impressed by his acquaintance with the peasant poet Spiridon Drozhzhin, who lived in the village of Nizovka, Tver province. Drozhzhin left the city forever, began to live like a peasant, cultivated the land and wrote poetry. This was what Rilke himself dreamed of. Fleeing from the deadened European civilization, from his disappointment in Catholicism, he approached the truly spiritual, people who professed Orthodoxy became close to him. In the urbanized West he lacked immediate religious feeling. He even wanted to move with his family to Russia for good. But this was not destined to come true.

Rilke talked for hours with Drozhzhin about God, they wandered through the swamps, along the banks of the Volga... In his diary, Rilke wrote: “On the Volga, on this calmly rolling sea, there will be days and nights, many days and nights. A wide, wide stream, a tall, tall forest on one bank, and a low meadow plain on the other, and large cities there no higher than huts or huts. All dimensions are being rethought. You realize that the earth is immense, water is something immense, and above all, the sky is immense. What I saw before was only a picture of the earth and the river and the world. But here it's all on its own. It was as if I had seen with my own eyes the creation of the world; the meaning of everything is in a few words, the measure of things is in the hands of the Creator.”

In the “Russian” book “Book of Hours” (subtitle: “The Book of Monastic Life”), in this book of prayers and eternal questions to God, the poet first of all expressed the creative beginning of the Creator:

You are the wheel that spins around me

You are an old man with smoked hair,

The invisible one who still

Stands at the anvil and in the palms

The blacksmith's hammer holds the strain.

(Translation by V. Sukhanova)

It was in the Russian people that the European poet saw a very strong creative beginning, a guarantee of a way out of the impasse of civilization. “If we talk about peoples as people who are in the process of development, then we can say: this people wants to become a soldier, another - a merchant, a third - a scientist; the Russian people want to become an artist,” he wrote.

Rilke will publish many books, write deep articles about artists and sculptors, will travel around Africa, he will have several exciting novels with women, he will live in castles, he will have a lot of things in his life, but at the end of his days in one of his letters he will write: “Russia was decisive in my life... Russia became, in a certain sense, the basis of my life and worldview.”

Many of his works contain Russian reminiscences - and in his most famous “Sonnets to Orpheus” or in the “Duino Elegies”.

“Duino Elegies” is a requiem for human civilization.

“Sonnets to Orpheus” is an attempt to see the salvation of the world in the creative manifestation of the Lord’s will.

One of Rilke's favorite sonnets was the so-called Russian sonnet:

You taught the creatures hearing in silence.

Lord, accept this gift from me

Memories of spring.

Evening in Russia. The horse's tramp.

The stallion gallops into the darkness of the night,

Dragging a stake behind you.

To yourself - to the meadows, into the darkness - alone!

The wind unraveled his mane,

He clung to the hot neck,

Growing into this gallop.

How the spring flowed in the horse's veins!

Far - straight to the forehead!

He sang and he listened. of your stories

The circle in him has closed.

My gift is my verse.

(Translation by V. Mikushevich)

Rilke died of leukemia at the Val-Mont clinic on the shores of Lake Geneva on New Year's Eve 1927. On January 2 he was buried in Raron. In the 20th century, not a year passed in the West without books about Rilke being published. It's time for us to get to know him better. Moreover, he once planned to settle in Russia forever.

* * *
You read the biography (facts and years of life) in a biographical article dedicated to the life and work of the great poet.
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Rainer Maria Rilke (German: Rainer Maria Rilke, full name: René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke - Rene Karl Wilhelm Johann Joseph Maria Rilke; December 4, 1875, Prague - December 29, 1926, Valmont, Switzerland) - Austrian poet.

In 1897 and 1900, he made two trips to Russia with his then-girlfriend Lou Andreas-Salomé, at whose insistence he changed his first name, René, to the more “masculine” Rainer. During the first of them, he met with the artists Ilya Repin and Leonid Pasternak, father, during the second, with Boris Pasternak, with whom he then corresponded, and with the poet Spiridon Drozhzhin. In 1900-1901 he wrote several poems in Russian. Later, he called two places his homeland: the Czech Republic and Russia.

In 1901 he married Clara Westhoff, the daughter of a sculptor. In the same year, their daughter Ruth was born. In 1907, he met Maxim Gorky on the island of Capri. He met and became friends with Rudolf Kassner. In 1912, Duino wrote the cycle “The Life of the Virgin Mary” in the castle.

After demobilization from the army during the First World War, he lived in Munich. In 1919 he left for Switzerland, in 1921 he settled in the town of Muzot, where he completed the “Duino Elegies”, begun back in 1912 in the castle of Duino near Trieste, and also wrote “Sonnets to Orpheus” . “Sonnets to Orpheus” were written by Rilke in a very short time, almost “in one breath,” in 1922 at the Chateau Musot. Rilke wrote 55 poems in 14 days. They were published as a separate book in 1923. This was the peak of Rilke's work and also his last significant book of poetry, although he wrote another collection of poems in French before his death in 1926. The sonnets are dedicated to the memory of the young dancer Vera Oukama Knoop, the daughter of Rilke's acquaintances, who died at the age of 19 from leukemia.

Beginning in 1923, he spent a long time in the Territe sanatorium on Lake Geneva due to deteriorating health. Doctors could not give him the correct diagnosis for a long time. Only shortly before his death, he was diagnosed with leukemia (bleeding), from which he died on December 29, 1926.

Rainer Maria Rilke, full name: René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke - Rene Karl Wilhelm Johann Joseph Maria Rilke; December 4, Prague - December 29, Valmont, Switzerland) is one of the most influential modernist poets of the 20th century. Born in Prague, had Austrian citizenship, wrote in German. Lived and worked in Trieste, Paris, Switzerland. He also wrote prose.

Biography

Rainer Maria Rilke was born on December 4, 1875 in Prague into the family of railway official Joseph Rilke and Sophie Rilke (née Entz). He was the first son in the family, then he had a brother. Received his birth name - Rene Karl Wilhelm Johann Joseph Maria Rilke.

He himself chose the inscription for his tombstone:

Canton of Valais, Switzerland.

He called the Bible and the works of Jens Peter Jacobsen his favorite books.

A crater on Mercury is named after Rilke. Featured on a 1976 Austrian postage stamp.

Major works

Poetry collections:

Life and songs / Leben und Lieder (1894)
Laram victims / Larenopfer (1895)
Crowned with dreams / Traumgekront (1897)
Christmas Eve (another translation is Advent) / Advent (1898)
First poems / Erste Gedichte (1903)
For my holiday / Mir zur Feier (1909)
Book of images / Buch der Bilder (1902)
/ Stundenbuch (1905)
New poems (I-II)/ Neue Gedichte (1907-08)
/ Das Marien-Leben (1912)
Duino elegies / Duineser Elegien (1912/1922)
/ Sonette an Orpheus (1923)

Prose:
Novel

Notes from Malte Laurids Brigge / Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge (1910)

Stories:

From books about art:

Travel Notes

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Excerpt characterizing Rilke, Rainer Maria

- No.
And Denisov went to the bed to take out his wallet from under the pillow.
- Where did you put it, Rostov?
- Under the bottom pillow.
- No, no.
Denisov threw both pillows onto the floor. There was no wallet.
- What a miracle!
- Wait, didn’t you drop it? - said Rostov, lifting the pillows one by one and shaking them out.
He threw off and shook off the blanket. There was no wallet.
- Have I forgotten? No, I also thought that you were definitely putting a treasure under your head,” said Rostov. - I put my wallet here. Where is he? – he turned to Lavrushka.
- I didn’t go in. Where they put it is where it should be.
- Not really…
– You’re just like that, throw it somewhere, and you’ll forget. Look in your pockets.
“No, if only I hadn’t thought about the treasure,” said Rostov, “otherwise I remember what I put in.”
Lavrushka rummaged through the entire bed, looked under it, under the table, rummaged through the entire room and stopped in the middle of the room. Denisov silently followed Lavrushka’s movements and, when Lavrushka threw up his hands in surprise, saying that he was nowhere, he looked back at Rostov.
- G "ostov, you are not a schoolboy...
Rostov felt Denisov’s gaze on him, raised his eyes and at the same moment lowered them. All his blood, which was trapped somewhere below his throat, poured into his face and eyes. He couldn't catch his breath.
“And there was no one in the room except the lieutenant and yourself.” Here somewhere,” said Lavrushka.
“Well, you little doll, get around, look,” Denisov suddenly shouted, turning purple and throwing himself at the footman with a threatening gesture. “You better have your wallet, otherwise you’ll burn.” Got everyone!
Rostov, looking around Denisov, began to button up his jacket, strapped on his saber and put on his cap.
“I tell you to have a wallet,” Denisov shouted, shaking the orderly by the shoulders and pushing him against the wall.
- Denisov, leave him alone; “I know who took it,” Rostov said, approaching the door and not raising his eyes.
Denisov stopped, thought and, apparently understanding what Rostov was hinting at, grabbed his hand.
“Sigh!” he shouted so that the veins, like ropes, swelled on his neck and forehead. “I’m telling you, you’re crazy, I won’t allow it.” The wallet is here; I'll take the shit out of this mega-dealer, and it will be here.
“I know who took it,” Rostov repeated in a trembling voice and went to the door.
“And I’m telling you, don’t you dare do this,” Denisov shouted, rushing to the cadet to hold him back.
But Rostov snatched his hand away and with such malice, as if Denisov were his greatest enemy, directly and firmly fixed his eyes on him.
- Do you understand what you are saying? - he said in a trembling voice, - there was no one in the room except me. Therefore, if not this, then...
He couldn't finish his sentence and ran out of the room.
“Oh, what’s wrong with you and with everyone,” were the last words that Rostov heard.
Rostov came to Telyanin’s apartment.
“The master is not at home, they have left for headquarters,” Telyanin’s orderly told him. - Or what happened? - added the orderly, surprised at the upset face of the cadet.
- There is nothing.
“We missed it a little,” said the orderly.
The headquarters was located three miles from Salzenek. Rostov, without going home, took a horse and rode to headquarters. In the village occupied by the headquarters there was a tavern frequented by officers. Rostov arrived at the tavern; at the porch he saw Telyanin's horse.
In the second room of the tavern the lieutenant was sitting with a plate of sausages and a bottle of wine.
“Oh, and you’ve stopped by, young man,” he said, smiling and raising his eyebrows high.
“Yes,” said Rostov, as if it took a lot of effort to pronounce this word, and sat down at the next table.
Both were silent; There were two Germans and one Russian officer sitting in the room. Everyone was silent, and the sounds of knives on plates and the lieutenant’s slurping could be heard. When Telyanin finished breakfast, he took a double wallet out of his pocket, pulled apart the rings with his small white fingers curved upward, took out a gold one and, raising his eyebrows, gave the money to the servant.
“Please hurry,” he said.
The gold one was new. Rostov stood up and approached Telyanin.
“Let me see your wallet,” he said in a quiet, barely audible voice.
With darting eyes, but still raised eyebrows, Telyanin handed over the wallet.
“Yes, a nice wallet... Yes... yes...” he said and suddenly turned pale. “Look, young man,” he added.
Rostov took the wallet in his hands and looked at it, and at the money that was in it, and at Telyanin. The lieutenant looked around, as was his habit, and suddenly seemed to become very cheerful.
“If we’re in Vienna, I’ll leave everything there, but now there’s nowhere to put it in these crappy little towns,” he said. - Well, come on, young man, I’ll go.
Rostov was silent.
- What about you? Should I have breakfast too? “They feed me decently,” Telyanin continued. - Come on.
He reached out and grabbed the wallet. Rostov released him. Telyanin took the wallet and began to put it in the pocket of his leggings, and his eyebrows rose casually, and his mouth opened slightly, as if he was saying: “yes, yes, I’m putting my wallet in my pocket, and it’s very simple, and no one cares about it.” .
- Well, what, young man? - he said, sighing and looking into Rostov’s eyes from under raised eyebrows. Some kind of light from the eyes, with the speed of an electric spark, ran from Telyanin’s eyes to Rostov’s eyes and back, back and back, all in an instant.
“Come here,” Rostov said, grabbing Telyanin by the hand. He almost dragged him to the window. “This is Denisov’s money, you took it...” he whispered in his ear.
– What?... What?... How dare you? What?...” said Telyanin.
But these words sounded like a plaintive, desperate cry and a plea for forgiveness. As soon as Rostov heard this sound of the voice, a huge stone of doubt fell from his soul. He felt joy and at the same moment he felt sorry for the unfortunate man standing in front of him; but it was necessary to complete the work begun.
“People here, God knows what they might think,” Telyanin muttered, grabbing his cap and heading into a small empty room, “we need to explain ourselves...
“I know this, and I will prove it,” said Rostov.
- I…
Telyanin's frightened, pale face began to tremble with all its muscles; the eyes were still running, but somewhere below, not rising to Rostov’s face, sobs were heard.
“Count!... don’t ruin the young man... this poor money, take it...” He threw it on the table. – My father is an old man, my mother!...
Rostov took the money, avoiding Telyanin’s gaze, and, without saying a word, left the room. But he stopped at the door and turned back. “My God,” he said with tears in his eyes, “how could you do this?”
“Count,” said Telyanin, approaching the cadet.
“Don’t touch me,” Rostov said, pulling away. - If you need it, take this money. “He threw his wallet at him and ran out of the tavern.

In the evening of the same day, there was a lively conversation between the squadron officers at Denisov’s apartment.
“And I’m telling you, Rostov, that you need to apologize to the regimental commander,” said a tall staff captain with graying hair, a huge mustache and large features of a wrinkled face, turning to the crimson, excited Rostov.
Staff captain Kirsten was demoted to soldier twice for matters of honor and served twice.
– I won’t allow anyone to tell me that I’m lying! - Rostov screamed. “He told me I was lying, and I told him he was lying.” It will remain so. He can assign me to duty every day and put me under arrest, but no one will force me to apologize, because if he, as a regimental commander, considers himself unworthy of giving me satisfaction, then...
- Just wait, father; “Listen to me,” the captain interrupted the headquarters in his bass voice, calmly smoothing his long mustache. - In front of other officers, you tell the regimental commander that the officer stole...
“It’s not my fault that the conversation started in front of other officers.” Maybe I shouldn’t have spoken in front of them, but I’m not a diplomat. Then I joined the hussars, I thought that there was no need for subtleties, but he told me that I was lying... so let him give me satisfaction...
- This is all good, no one thinks that you are a coward, but that’s not the point. Ask Denisov, does this look like something for a cadet to demand satisfaction from the regimental commander?
Denisov, biting his mustache, listened to the conversation with a gloomy look, apparently not wanting to engage in it. When asked by the captain's staff, he shook his head negatively.
“You tell the regimental commander about this dirty trick in front of the officers,” the captain continued. - Bogdanych (the regimental commander was called Bogdanych) besieged you.
- He didn’t besiege him, but said that I was telling a lie.
- Well, yes, and you said something stupid to him, and you need to apologize.
- Never! - Rostov shouted.
“I didn’t think this from you,” the captain said seriously and sternly. “You don’t want to apologize, but you, father, not only before him, but before the entire regiment, before all of us, you are completely to blame.” Here's how: if only you had thought and consulted on how to deal with this matter, otherwise you would have drunk right in front of the officers. What should the regimental commander do now? Should the officer be put on trial and the entire regiment be soiled? Because of one scoundrel, the whole regiment is disgraced? So, what do you think? But in our opinion, not so. And Bogdanich is great, he told you that you are telling lies. It’s unpleasant, but what can you do, father, they attacked you yourself. And now, as they want to hush up the matter, because of some kind of fanaticism you don’t want to apologize, but want to tell everything. You are offended that you are on duty, but why should you apologize to an old and honest officer! No matter what Bogdanich is, he’s still an honest and brave old colonel, it’s such a shame for you; Is it okay for you to dirty the regiment? – The captain’s voice began to tremble. - You, father, have been in the regiment for a week; today here, tomorrow transferred to adjutants somewhere; you don’t care what they say: “there are thieves among the Pavlograd officers!” But we care. So, what, Denisov? Not all the same?
Denisov remained silent and did not move, occasionally glancing at Rostov with his shining black eyes.
“You value your own fanabery, you don’t want to apologize,” the headquarters captain continued, “but for us old men, how we grew up, and even if we die, God willing, we will be brought into the regiment, so the honor of the regiment is dear to us, and Bogdanich knows this.” Oh, what a road, father! And this is not good, not good! Be offended or not, I will always tell the truth. Not good!
And the headquarters captain stood up and turned away from Rostov.
- Pg "avda, chog" take it! - Denisov shouted, jumping up. - Well, G'skeleton! Well!
Rostov, blushing and turning pale, looked first at one officer, then at the other.
- No, gentlemen, no... don’t think... I really understand, you’re wrong to think about me like that... I... for me... I’m for the honor of the regiment. So what? I will show this in practice, and for me the honor of the banner... well, it’s all the same, really, I’m to blame!.. - Tears stood in his eyes. - I’m guilty, I’m guilty all around!... Well, what else do you need?...
“That’s it, Count,” the captain of staff shouted, turning around, hitting him on the shoulder with his big hand.
“I’m telling you,” Denisov shouted, “he’s a nice little guy.”
“That’s better, Count,” the headquarters captain repeated, as if for his recognition they were beginning to call him a title. - Come and apologize, your Excellency, yes sir.
“Gentlemen, I’ll do everything, no one will hear a word from me,” Rostov said in a pleading voice, “but I can’t apologize, by God, I can’t, whatever you want!” How will I apologize, like a little one, asking for forgiveness?
Denisov laughed.
- It's worse for you. Bogdanich is vindictive, you will pay for your stubbornness,” said Kirsten.
- By God, not stubbornness! I can’t describe to you what a feeling, I can’t...
“Well, it’s your choice,” said the headquarters captain. - Well, where did this scoundrel go? – he asked Denisov.
“He said he was sick, and the manager ordered him to be expelled,” Denisov said.
“It’s a disease, there’s no other way to explain it,” said the captain at the headquarters.
“It’s not a disease, but if he doesn’t catch my eye, I’ll kill him!” – Denisov shouted bloodthirstyly.
Zherkov entered the room.
- How are you? - the officers suddenly turned to the newcomer.
- Let's go, gentlemen. Mak surrendered as a prisoner and with the army, completely.
- You're lying!
- I saw it myself.
- How? Have you seen Mack alive? with arms, with legs?
- Hike! Hike! Give him a bottle for such news. How did you get here?
“They sent me back to the regiment again, for the devil’s sake, for Mack.” The Austrian general complained. I congratulated him on Mak’s arrival... Are you from the bathhouse, Rostov?
- Here, brother, we have such a mess for the second day.
The regimental adjutant came in and confirmed the news brought by Zherkov. We were ordered to perform tomorrow.
- Let's go, gentlemen!
- Well, thank God, we stayed too long.

Kutuzov retreated to Vienna, destroying behind him bridges on the rivers Inn (in Braunau) and Traun (in Linz). On October 23, Russian troops crossed the Enns River. Russian convoys, artillery and columns of troops in the middle of the day stretched through the city of Enns, on this side and on the other side of the bridge.
The day was warm, autumn and rainy. The vast perspective that opened up from the elevation where the Russian batteries stood protecting the bridge was suddenly covered with a muslin curtain of slanting rain, then suddenly expanded, and in the light of the sun objects as if covered with varnish became visible far away and clearly. A town could be seen underfoot with its white houses and red roofs, a cathedral and a bridge, on both sides of which masses of Russian troops poured, crowding. At the bend of the Danube one could see ships, an island, and a castle with a park, surrounded by the waters of the Ensa confluence with the Danube; one could see the left rocky bank of the Danube covered with pine forests with the mysterious distance of green peaks and blue gorges. The towers of the monastery were visible, protruding from behind a pine forest that seemed untouched; far ahead on the mountain, on the other side of Ens, enemy patrols could be seen.

Rainer Maria Rilke was born on December 4, 1875 in Prague into the family of railway official Joseph Rilke and Sophie Rilke (née Entz). He was the only son. Received his birth name - Rene Karl Wilhelm Johann Joseph Maria Rilke.

1882-1884 Studying at primary school in Prague.

1884 Parents divorce, the son remains to live with his mother. Rilke's first children's poems.

1886-1891 Training at the cadet and higher real military schools.

1892-1895 Completes secondary education, passes matriculation exams in Prague. Writes his first stories - including Pierre Dumont (1894). The first collection of poetry, Life and Songs, was published (1894).

1896 Studies at the University of Prague, first at the Faculty of Philosophy, then at the Faculty of Law. The poetry collection “Victims of Laram” is published.

1897 - first trip to Italy (Arco, Venice). Upon returning to Germany, he met Lou Andreas-Salomé and awakened interest in Russia. In October 1897 - moved to Berlin, where Rilke settled until 1901, studying at the University of Berlin. He writes three editions of the poetry collections “Plantain” and the collection of poems “Crown with Dreams.”

1898 A collection of poems, “Christmas Eve,” a collection of short prose, “Past Life,” and a drama, “Without the Present,” are published. In the spring - a second trip to Italy (Arco, Florence, Viareggio).

1899 From April to June - first trip to Russia (Moscow - St. Petersburg) with his then girlfriend Lou Andreas-Salome, at whose insistence he changed his first name Rene to the more “masculine” Rainer. There he met Leo Tolstoy, artists Ilya Repin and Leonid Pasternak, father of Boris Pasternak. “Two Prague Stories” and a collection of poems “For My Holiday” (Mir zur Feier) were published in Germany.

1900 A collection of short prose “About the Lord God and Others” was published, the first edition of “Stories about the Lord God” (1900), a book that reflected Rilke’s Russian and Italian impressions. From May to August - second stay in Russia (Moscow - Tula - Yasnaya Polyana - Kiev - Kremenchug - Poltava - Kharkov - Voronezh - Saratov - Simbirsk - Kazan - Nizhny Novgorod - Yaroslavl - Moscow). During his second visit to Moscow, he again met the Pasternak family and met the poet Spiridon Drozhzhin. In 1900-1901 he wrote several poems in Russian. Later, he called two places his homeland: the Czech Republic and Russia. Subsequently, Rilke maintained a correspondence (partly in poetry) with Marina Tsvetaeva, although they never met in person. Tsvetaeva dedicated the poem “New Year’s Eve” and the essay “Your Death” to Rilke’s memory. Intensive classes in Russian literature (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov) and art, translations from Russian (“The Lay of Igor’s Campaign”, S. Drozhzhin, 3. Gippius). Since August, at the invitation of the artist Heinrich Vogeler, Rilke has been living in the village of Worpswede, a kind of artists' colony, where he meets the artist Clara Westhof and the sculptor Paula Becker. The first will soon become the poet’s wife, and he will dedicate his famous requiem “One Friend to One” to the second.

1901 Marries Clara Westhoff, daughter of a sculptor (Clara Westhoff). In December, daughter Ruth was born.

1902 The collection of short stories “The Last”, the story “The Conqueror of the Dragon”, the drama “Life as Life”, the first version of the collection “Early Poems”, and the first edition of the “Book of Pictures” are published. In August he moves to Paris, which becomes the center for his wandering life. Meets Rodin.

1903 Rilke's two books on art are published - Worpswede and Auguste Rodin. Correspondence with Franz Kappus begins, which will last until 1908 and which will then be compiled into the book “Letters to a Young Poet.” Trip to Italy (Genoa, Viareggio), summer holidays in Worpswede. In the fall he moves to Rome.

1904 The book of prose “Stories about the Lord God” is published. The drama “The White Princess” has been completed. From the end of June to December he lives in Sweden and then in Denmark.

1905 The poet lives in Meudon, near Paris, in Rodin's country workshop, and works as his secretary. The Book of Hours is published at Christmas.

1906 In January he travels to Chartres and begins a poetic cycle about Chartres Cathedral. In the spring - a trip to Germany. In May - a break with Rodin, who fires Rilke without warning, after which he moves to Paris. Working on the first part of “New Poems”. “The Song of Love and Death of the Cornet by Christoph Rilke” (written in 1899) and the second edition of “The Book of Pictures” were published.

1907 Lives in Capri and meets Maxim Gorky. He met and became friends with Rudolf Kassner. Then until the end of October - in Paris. Visits the Cezanne exhibition at the Autumn Salon; the letters from this period will later be used to compile the book “Letters about Cezanne.” The first part of “New Poems” is published. Reissues the book “Auguste Rodin”, supplemented with the text of a report on the great sculptor.

1908 Trip to Italy. In May - moving to Paris and resuming intensive communication with Rodin. “New Poems, Part II” and a translation of “Sonnets from Portuguese” by the English poetess Elizabeth Barrett Browning are published.

1909 The book “Requiem” is published. Hohenlohe meets Princess Maria von Thurn-und-Taxis, whose patronage and support Rilke will enjoy for the rest of his life. The second revised and expanded edition of Early Poems is published.

1910 First stay at Duino Castle, owned by Thurn und Taxis, near Trieste, then Venice and Paris. Since November he has been traveling around North Africa. Publication of the Notes of Malte Laurids Brigge.

1911 Continues travel through North Africa, then returns to Paris. Travels from Paris by car with Princess Maria von Thurn-und-Taxis to Duino.

1912 The emergence of the poetic cycle “The Life of the Virgin Mary” and the first “Duino Elegies”. Trips to Venice and Spain. Translates from French the anonymous 17th-century sermon “The Love of the Magdalene.”

1913 The Life of the Virgin Mary, a collection of early poetry called First Poems, and a translation from French of the Portuguese Letters attributed to the Portuguese nun Marianna Alcoforado (1640-1723) are published. Begins work on translations of Michelangelo's lyrics.

1914 The poetic cycle “Five Hymns” is created, dedicated to the outbreak of war.

1915 All year - in Munich. Return to the Duino Elegies.

1916 Rilke is drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army for six months in Vienna, in the military archive.

1918 “Twenty-four Sonnets of Louise Labais de Lyons” (from Italian and French, 16th century) is published in Rilke’s translation. Latest translations from Michelangelo, translates two sonnets by Petrarch.

1920 Poetic cycle “From the legacy of Count K.V.” The drama “The White Princess” has been published.

1921 Lives in Muzot Castle, near Zurich. The beginning of intense creative work. First translations from Paul Valéry.

1922 Lives in Muzot almost continuously all year. February is a period of creative takeoff. The poet completes the “Duino Elegies” and creates “Sonnets to Orpheus”. December marks the apogee of work on translations of Paul Valéry. “Sonnets to Orpheus” were written by Rilke in a very short time, almost “in one breath,” in 1922 at the Chateau Musot. Rilke wrote 55 poems in 14 days. They were published as a separate book in 1923. This was the peak of Rilke's work, and at the same time his last significant book of poetry, although he wrote another collection of poems in French before his death in 1926. The sonnets are dedicated to the memory of the young dancer Vera Oukama Knoop, the daughter of Rilke's acquaintances, who died at the age of 19 from leukemia.

1923 “Duino Elegies” and “Sonnets to Orpheus” are published. Beginning in 1923, he spent a long time in the Territet sanatorium on Lake Geneva due to deteriorating health. Doctors could not give him the correct diagnosis for a long time. Only shortly before his death, he was diagnosed with leukemia (bleeding), from which he died on December 29, 1926.

1924 Lives in Musot again. A new period of creative activity: masterpieces of late lyricism emerge. In addition, Rilke writes poetry in French. In summer - a month in the resort of Ragaz.

1925 A book of Valerie's translations is published in Germany.

1926 Lives in Muzote and Ragatse. He corresponds intensively with M.I. Tsvetaeva. From autumn - alternately in Musot, Lausanne, Sion, Sierre. A book of Rilke's French poems "Gardens" with an appendix of "Valaisian quatrains" is published. Latest translations from Paul Valéry. From November 30 - again at the Val-Mont clinic. December 29 - Rilke's death.