The heartfelt but philosophical nature of Rainer Maria Rilke’s writing always stands out to me, but it stands out more so in this collection focused on grief. The book’s editor did an impressive job of both organizing the letters with helpful introductions and contextualizing them in a Preface that I recommend readers not gloss over.

I am not new to Rilke’s work, having read several of his poetry and letter collections. But this book differentiates itself with its treatment of its theme. Grief is a universal experience and emotion yet one that many find difficult to articulate. And anyone familiar with Rilke knows that he is a master of relating complex thought and entreating readers with compassion and action.

His letters, addressed over the years to loved ones, friends, and acquaintances alike, all demonstrate a genuine desire to help alleviate the pain of missing a loved one while also working deeper meanings and philosophies throughout. Each letter is personal, reflective, and in some ways rhetorical. He uses the recipient’s loss as a way to help him or her explore not just death but also the Self. Rilke distanced himself from religions and philosophies that emphasized reliance on higher Beings and preferred to explore ways of empowering individuals and taking ownership of one’s life and direction. While this may seem a bit out of place when trying to comfort people in a time of loss, his approach actually comes across unique and empowering.

Rilke has a way of offering comfort in his letters even as he grapples with sadness and the practicalities and disparities of grief. Poignantly, he explains that when a person dies, we are left to carry on with their tasks and carry out their legacy. But why, he asks, do we perceive this to be a negative or a burden? For Rilke, the people who we truly loved are within us and that we can carry on their life as part of our own, taking on their unfinished work and exploring the things that they would have wished for us to become. Rilke uses the death of loved ones as a means to remind us that these moments can be sad and empowering at the same time. We have a cause to get behind, a legacy to carry on, a meaning that does not leave when the people we love leave us. The things and people that are part of our lives and influence us can never end since they move forward within us. His unique way of viewing this as an honor and something that helps to demonstrate the bond we had with the person is enlightening.

Throughout the letters, the theme of self-empowerment during times of sadness, rather than letting death and grief cripple you, is paramount. Rilke focuses on facing grief head on, almost emphasizing it rather than shirking from it, so that we can use it to power us forward rather than letting it hold us back. In this way, we can learn from those who have left us and have the stamina to carry out their legacy. His admonishments are frank at times, encouraging people to grieve but to carry on with life and warning them that we cannot stop moving forward. There are risks to surrendering to grief instead of allowing it to teach us and help us grow.
I recommend this book for readers who would like an introduction to Rilke, as it demonstrates the range of his writing without becoming overly philosophical or difficult to follow. Readers familiar with Rilke’s work will also enjoy a departure from his typical form. And if you have never heard of Rilke but are working through loss or know someone who is, then this book may help shed some new perspective on your sorrows and help you as you work through a difficult time.

Throughout my 20s, I used to carry a small paperback copy of "Letters to a Young Poet' with me everywhere I went. As my friends sought prestige and professional accolades, Rilke's letters centering art and the creative spirit kept me grounded. The Dark Interval offers more of Rilke's letters to friends, all of them centered on getting through dark times, mourning and suffering.. It's a beautiful balm in a sometimes dark world.

Having read other letter collections of Rilke, I knew these would be written in beautiful language and with the kind of depth and honesty that he has shown elsewhere. I was not disappointed. Offering condolence to someone grieving the loss of a loved one is one of the most difficult things to do. Yet, in letter after letter here, Rilke has shown that it is possible to do it with care, love, attention, and insight. Each letter is different in its own way, personalized based on his relationship with the receiver. And each letter is a polished gem that, one imagines, the receiver would have cherished and reread again and again. This is a lovely collection to give as a gift to a friend or a loved one who has lost someone. [A full book review will be uploaded shortly. I'll add the link when it's online.]

The poet Rainer Maria Rilke is famous for writing letters. The preface tells us that over the course of his short life, he wrote over 14,000 letters, which he himself considered as significant as any of his poetry or prose.

This volume contains 23 letters that were written to friends, former lovers, and acquaintances about death, loss, grief and transformation. Rilke believed that you have to embrace and walk through the pain, rather than bury it or try to overcome it, to get to the point where you can begin to live your life again. He firmly believed in living in the moment, here and now, experiencing it to the fullest, whatever the circumstances.

The preface is outstanding, and adds much in helping the reader to know more and Rilke and to better understand his writings.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Modern Library for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

”When the weight of all my dreams
Is resting heavy on my head
And the thoughtful words of help and hope
Have all been nicely said
But I'm still hurting, wondering if I'll ever be the one
I think I am--I think I am.

“Then you gently re-remind me
That You've made me from the first
And the more I try to be the best
The more I get the worst.
And I realize the good in me is only there because of who
You are, who You are.
And all I ever have to be is what
You've made me”

All I Ever Have to Be,Amy Grant, Songwriters: Gary Winthur Chapman

”At the time of his death in 1926 at the age of fifty-one, Rilke had written more than fourteen thousand letters, which the poet considered to be as significant as his poetry and prose.”

Born René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke, better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, a man who has written one novel, several poetry collections, and a collection of some of his correspondence is included in this collection. An author that I have meant to read for too long, and have now read this one collection of correspondence.

Included are over twenty letters of condolence, which serve as a reminder of the value and lessons of life, among them the tenuous nature of life, and the inevitability of loss. And yet, these are so elevating and inspiring that it never feels burdened with the sorrow, although it is acknowledged as a necessary part, perhaps even an enriching part of the journey through loss. There is a sense of Rilke’s genuine closeness with the recipient, an intimacy with their emotional constitution, what they must be feeling, and what they need to hear, that elevated these letters from a formal note of condolence to ones are personally felt.

From the very first letter in the collection to the last, this is just lovely, and wise, and wonderful.


Highly recommended

Pub Date: 14 AUG 2018


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Random House Publishing Group – Random House / Modern Library

Rainer Maria Rilke wrote over fourteen thousand letters during his lifetime to anyone who was close to him, anyone with whom he felt a connection, and this included those who contacted him after reading one of his works. Rilke considered his letters to be as significant as his more formal writings, and academics believe the letters to be even more accessible for the general reader.

Spiritually, Rilke believed that we should make sense of, or make peace with, our circumstances while living. He felt strongly that we should live fully in the now, in both the good and dark times.

The preface is an exceptional introduction to Rilke’s work and his beliefs, values, and points-of-view. In fact, the author of the preface used Rilke’s words to make sense of the loss of his own father. He felt the words were a companion to him in his grief. In short, Rilke’s philosophy is to focus on moving with and through the pain of loss rather than trying to overcome it. If we focus solely on overcoming loss, we do not acknowledge the loved one we are missing, and we do not allow ourselves to be shaped by what we learned while grieving. Folks, this is deep and meaningful, almost overwhelming in its depth.

Like all of us, I have experienced tragic losses in my lifetime, and I seek out knowledge and texts on grief and loss to both help me as I continue to move through my own feelings (and hopefully grow), but also to help connect me to others who are moving through similar experiences. It is not something that is ever complete. I cannot check off that box. Grief has been a part of my life and will continue to be, as difficult as that is for me to write. Rilke’s words resonate fervently with me, as I, too, believe that grief is a process that we must walk though. And through his profound words, I am opened up to many more opportunities for personal growth and introspection.

The Dark Interval is a book that I had to read slowly and savor. It requires thought and reflection, but the benefits of that were tremendous. I highly recommend it to anyone who has experienced loss. It is not heavy, or difficult, other than in the weight of your own self-reflection.

Rainer Maria Rilke wrote over 14,000 letters before his tragic death from leukemia at age fifty-one, we are informed in the Preface to The Dark Interval. This volume consists of two dozen of Rilke's condolence letters, newly translated and gathered into one volume. Also included is a letter Rilke wrote to his Polish translator in which he discusses the themes communicated in his poetry.

The letters convey Rilke's philosophy of accepting death as part of existence, embracing the pain, and ensuring that we never truly lose loved ones, they are always with us and their work becomes our work.

I was in my late 20s when I picked up Rilke's slim volume Letters to a Young Poet. I kept the book close, often rereading it, and I gave copies to friends. I added Rilke's poetry to my shelves. I will never forget sitting on the cliffs of Mt. Desert Island, under blue skies with gulls circling overhead, the rushing sea and lobster boats below, and opening for the first time Duino Elegies to read


Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the Angelic
Orders? And even if one were to suddenly
take me to its heart, I would vanish into its
stronger existence. For beauty is nothing but
the beginning of terror, that we are still able to bear,
and we revere it so, because it calmly disdains
to destroy us.

Forty years later I still return to Rilke again and again, struggling to understand the letters and poems that have moved me so. I had no idea that The Dark Interval would offer so many answers.

I read a letter at a time, for Rilke's original ideas take concentration and thought. These are letters I will read and reread.

On the death of Countess Alexandrine Schwerin's father Rilke wrote, "...have faith in what is most horrible, instead of fighting it off--it reveals itself for those who can trust it," for "death is only a relentless way of making us familiar and even intimate with the side of our existence that is turned away from us."

To Nanny Wunderly-Volkart he wrote, "We have to get used to the fact that we rest in the pause between two of God's breaths: for that means: to be in time...The brief time of our existence is probably precisely the period when we lose all connection to him and, drifting apart from him, become enmeshed in the creation which he leaves alone."

To Countess Margot Sizzo-Noris-Crouy on the death of her mother, Rilke wrote, "...we should make it our deep and searing curiosity to explore such loss completely and to experience the particular and singular nature of this loss and its impact within our life." He again mentions death as the side of life "permanently turned away from us, and which is not its opposite but its complement to attain perfection, consummation, and the truly complete and round sphere and orb of being." Death is a friend, he consoles, the true yes-sayer. In another letter to the Countess he writes about life's horrors and the unity of bliss and horror as "two faces of the same divinity" as the meaning of his Sonnets to Orpheus.

Rilke's letter to Witold Hulewiz, who translated Rilke's writing into Polish, he addresses the central theme of "the affirmation of life-and-death," death being the "side of life turned away from us."

"Transience everywhere plunges unto a deep being," he wrote Hulewiz. The angel of the Elegies "is that being which vouches for the recognition of the invisible at a higher order of reality."

Rilke states that his angels are not biblical but is "that creature in whom the transformation of the visible into the invisible...appears already consummated." And that is what terrifies we mortals so for we cling to the visible world.

As Letters to a Young Poet can help us learn how to live, The Dark Interval can show us how to accept the mystery of the future which we cannot see or know.

The title The Dark Interval comes from a poem in Rilke's Book of Hours which ends,

I am the rest between two notes
That harmonize only reluctantly:
For death wants to become the loudest tone--

But in the dark interval they reconcile
Tremblingly, and get along.
And the beauty of the song goes on.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

This short collection of letters written by famous poet and author of "Letters to a Young Poet", Rainer Maria Rilke, gives us something to reflect upon in times of greif and offers comfort. While many of the letters were personalized to the sender who sent them, there was still much wisdom to be found in the author's replies. I would recommend this book to anyone who is dealing with loss or greif.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of it.