Two more publications have featured the Rilke Tour challenge, Gstaad Life, which has a
delightful description of the contest and Journal Du Pays-d’Enhaut, which has a splendid headline for the article announcing the tour, proclaiming that Rilke is alive and in good health. It makes the point that 100 years on from the publication of The Duino Elegies it, the other works of Rilke and his love of life are still very much relevant today.
The imminent publication of Farol’s latest book, Road Trip with Rilke round Switzerland, and the intriguing challenge associated with it generated an in-depth article in Global Geneva.
The publication of the book coincides with the centennial of the publication of lyrical poet Rilke’s powerful work Duino Elegies.
The challenge, aimed at tourists, hikers and anyone with an old or newly aquired interest in the Poet and his moving writing is outlined here.
Read the full article in
David Beckham’s commute from Los Angeles to London could have a career-threatening effect on his health, according to experts.
And aviation health expert Farrol Kahn warned: “It puts him in the high risk category for getting deep-vein thrombosis (DVT).
Rainer Maria Rilke, the Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist spent the latter part of his life in Switzerland. One of the most “lyrically intense” German-language poets, his works, such as the Duino Elegies, have inspired many artists, ranging from author Graham Greene to painter Paul Klee. One British university professor even spent all his holidays following in the footsteps of Rilke from Turkey to Russia. Just after his 51st birthday Rilke died in Montreux overlooking Lake Geneva on 29 December 1926 from a late diagnosed leukemia. But he is remembered most steadfastly in the Raron and Sierre region of the Valais, which he embraced as a version of Provence. Journalist, author and healthy-flying activist Farrol Kahn has launched into his first work of fiction with a biography of Rilke. He explains his long fascination with the poet and his work.
The following appeared in the European edition of the Weekend FT
See associated blog entry here
The first translation of Duineser Elegien into English was done by Vita Sackville West (Cranach Press, 1931). She had begun the translation with the assistance of Margaret Voigt, an American living in Berlin, with whom she had started a passionate love affair early in the spring of 1928. ‘Being in love always helped Vita to write’, subsequently in a relationship lasting five months the two ‘established their fantasy love-world at Long Barn (in which Margaret played the ‘peasant’ to Vita’s aristocrat, and Vita was “David” to Margaret’.
The translation was completed in collaboration with Edward Sackville-West, fifth Baron Sackville (1901-1965). It was luxury edition printed in red and black with text in English and German, 20 woodcut initials heightened with gold designed and cut by Eric Gill. Later Vita approached approached Hogarth Press which was run by Virginia Wolf and her husband Leonard. However, it was poor translation and only a handful were printed in deference to Virginia, her friend and lover. H.J. Leishman and Stephen Spender delivered a good translation and it was published in 1939. The book ran over several editions until the 1970s.
Rilke’s love of roses was commented on in a letter in the Financial Times last week (3rd September), linked to an article by Robin Lane Fox.
Rilke was able to realise his wish for a rose garden whilst at Muzot in the Valais, more about his time there is featured in the book, RILKE: A Bio Novel. (See here for stockists)
Farrol Kahn hat in Eischoll einen Biografischen Roman über den wohl wichtigsten Dichter für das Wallis geschrieben. Eine Arbeit, de zehn Jahre dauerte.
Translation of article below.
Farrol Kahn has written a bio novel about the probably most important poet for the Valais. A task that took 10 years to complete. The author of the book “Rilke” about the passion for the poet, his work and Switzerland.
I wanted to write a book, a novel about a poet. I first thought of Yeats, the Irish poet, but there has already been a lot written about him. Another option was a Latvian poet called Rainis but it was difficult to find poems because they were mostly in Russian. I initially wanted to do something about this poet because my father was from that country.
And then, by chance, I picked up a book of Rilke’s poetry by Mitchell, when I was commuting from London to Sussex. I was fascinated by the poems. I’ve read snippets of his Duino Elegies and his Sonnets to Orpheus when I was on the train and later I began reading about his life. There were a lot of books in English about him but they were mainly academic works about his poetry. No one has written about the man who had a life, who had many loves and who struggled to find himself. I wanted to show him as a human being, not just a guru or a philosopher. All his works can be traced to a basis.
The basis of his work was that in 1900 he married and then had a child. After one year he turned to his wife and said that he was a bad husband, a bad father but wanted to be a good poet. He left his family and travelled a lot: Egypt, Spain, Berlin, France and many more. He never put down roots, he was always hovering above a city or a country.
He was one of these mysterious poets who wrote a lot of letters: 17,000. Another interesting aspect is the contrast between him and his friend Paul Valéry. The french poet wrote according to a system whereas Rilke was very emotional. In order to write, Rilke always tried to find a “winter nest”, a place where he was on his own. Only a housekeeper would be in
the same house and put the food in front of Rilke’s room. He just wanted to write poetry on his own over the three months of winter.
I’ve read a lot of his letters, took notes and did research in libraries like Oxford and Geneva. Those libraries have his genuine letters, the letter he wrote to his mistress and muse Baladine Klossowska. Their story is very fascinating.
The creative years of Rilke in Switzerland were from 1920 to 1926. The first thing he had to do was to find a “winter nest”. He first tried to find something in Zurich like the Schloss Berg am Irchel but it did not work out. When he met Baladine in Geneva they went on a trip to the Valais and when they were by the church above Raron, they looked at the wonderful landscape. That awakened his inspiration for writing poetry.
Rilke had a great love affair with her but then got leukemia. He did not want to see Baladine while his body was full of black spots, which was very hard for him. This grand passion that can be seen in the incredible love letters is so inspiring.
Yes, I did. I wondered why a lot of the books on him were academic and none showed who he was. The reason behind that is, that his letters have been censored by his wife. Anything that had something to do with his emotions, his body or his love affairs was affected. That’s why many people didn’t really know much about him.
His confessions took 50 years to be published. It was hard work, I had to go to the libraries, to sit down and make notes. I had a translator that translated the German or French texts into English.
The only sort of fiction is where I animate him. Many things I know from the love letter he wrote to Baladine Klossowska. These elements I used in conversation. I really made Rilke alive which is much appreciated.
Not a strong connection. I have seen pictures of the landscape and one falls in love with it.
My German Rilke friends had apartments in Eischoll and invited me to stay there while writing the book. They said that the view was wonderful and that I could see the church in Raron where Rilke is buried. That was true. I could always look down and get inspiration.
Rilke opened a whole new world, an inner world which he was part of. Wherever I go there is a reminder of Rilke in some shape or form. For Example, when I went to Paris I would go to the Luxembourg Gardens where he had had many walks.
No. I would look at my book, the biographical novel and find areas that are important in the road trip. For example Schloss Berg am Irchel. It still exists today, even though it is a horse breeding centre. Or the Victoria Hotel where he is in the register. All those places will be in the road trip. Readers can go around Switzerland and stay in five star hotels, where a little table of memories will remind of Rilke. In the book you will find the letters that he has written at those places.
Exactly. You have the opportunity of entering his personal world by discovering new places and reading his letters.
The following was published in the FT Weekend of 31st July/1st August 2021
The German article is below (zoom in to read) with English translation below.
What attracted me to Rilke was that he was the epitome of a poet. The English poet, Stephen Spender once said that if he cuts himself while shaving he will bleed poetry. At the beginning of his marriage, after the birth of his daughter Ruth, Rilke turned to his wife Clara and said: “I have come to a crossroads in my life. I am neither a good husband nor a good father, but I want to be a good poet. Ciao! ” What kept him going until he completed his two masterpieces, the “Duineser Elegies” and the “Sonnets for Orpheus”, was his mantra: “Always be a beginner! Always be a beginner! ” His modest determination to start over and over again made him successful.
The aim was to find out why Rilke was treated like a philosopher and guru. The reason for this was that his wife had never forgiven him for leaving her, and when she became the literary administrator of the estate after his death, she censored his letters, leaving only spiritual or philosophical references in them.
My book differs from other books because I brought Rilke to life in a novel.
I’ve done a lot of research in the ten years I’ve written the book: reading the biographies of people who knew him, studying material from libraries like the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, the Bodmeriana in Geneva, and others. I spoke to people who had known his lover Elisabeth Klossowska and her son, the painter Balthus, with whom Rilke was friends, as well as to other researchers who had met Rilke’s daughter and his wife. For those who met him, he was impartial, not arrogant, with an easy demeanor and always polite. He was slightly built, rather small, with a large head and large blue eyes.
The most fascinating thing is the depth of the relationship between him and Elisabeth, which is reminiscent of the medieval lovers Abelard and HeloÏse. The beauty of the exchange between the two is breathtaking: “I go, I look, it looks like a hotel room and yet it was my house on earth. My garden of love, and nowhere, except in the ecstatic solitude of work, has my heart been so satisfied. On my last night I slept with your letter on my heart, I loved the faint little rose with true love. I ate the damp black grapes. I caressed the figs and inhaled the scent of the little flowers, which resembles those little nests you have in the intimacy of your beautiful arms, where you raise the young winged exaltations that fly high when you open your arms to your delighted friend . Goodbye Goodbye. Live from our inexhaustible treasures.“
The book is a biographical fiction or “faction”.
Anyone who wants to know what it means to be a poet.
The next book I’m planning is the road trip with Rilke through Switzerland.
I came to Switzerland in 2009 and liked the country so much that I started writing culture and travel books to promote tourism. I’ve lived everywhere, in a village called Eischoll in Valais, in Vevey in Vaud and in Geneva. In the end I found Gstaad in Saanenland so magical that I settled there.
«The author Farrol Kahn was born in South Africa in the 1960s. There he trained and became a journalist. He then lived in London and Oxford for most of his life. From 1996 to 2009 he was director of the non-profit Aviation Health Institute (AHI) in Oxford, which he founded when he was writing his book “Curse of Icarus” (Routledge 1990). The book highlighted the health risks of flying – cancer from sun exposure and blood clots from less oxygen in the aircraft cabin. Sir David Weatherall, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University, was impressed with his book and became a member of the Advisory Board. Three more books on aerospace medicine followed, all of which are available on Amazon.
During his tenure at AHI, Farrol Kahn organized healthy flying events at airports such as Heathrow, Dublin, Copenhagen and Malta. A 28 year old athletic woman died after a flight London / Sydney / London. Her lungs were filled with blood clots. People were shocked that a young passenger could die on a long-haul flight. The reason for this is that there were no warnings that the airlines were protected by the Warsaw Convention of 1929, which had not been changed. Subsequently, Farrol Kahn received £2 million from the governments of the EU and the UK for research into deep vein thrombosis (DVT) carried out by the World Health Organization (WHO). This led to the development of compression stockings with a mercury value of 14 to 20 millimeters for air travelers.
