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Paul Bryant's Reviews > Letters to a Young Poet
Letters to a Young Poet
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LETTER FROM A YOUNG POET
Dear Mr Rilke
I am not sure I made myself completely clear in my last letter to you. Judging by the reply you were so kind enough to send, I don’t think you quite realised that my landlord has now issued a notice to quit, the period of which terminates this month, and, as I tried to explain, I have been let go from my position at the slaughterhouse � I stress that these are not metaphors, or ironic parables, dear Mr Rilke. It could be that you thought I was speaking poetically. This was sadly not the case. This being so, I was wondering if you could see your way to being able to advance me a sum of somewhere in the region of 2500 marks to get me through the coldest winter we have experienced in many a long year. I put it to you plainly � the last bottle of gin was finished last night and I am hoping that wallpaper contains some nutriments because that is the only edible thing left in the house from which I will be imminently ejected. 3000 marks of course will be better, I could then replace my boots and would not have to walk the streets wearing two blocks of ice. I know you many times advised me to embrace my solitude, to not demand answers to life’s questions but to live intimately with the questions themselves, but surely, not to the point where one might reasonably be expected to contract tuberculosis.
Your affectionate correspondent
Franz Xaver Kappus
Berlin 1928
PS � at a stretch I can live with 2000 marks if I sell some minor body parts to the Hospital.
Dear Mr Rilke
I am not sure I made myself completely clear in my last letter to you. Judging by the reply you were so kind enough to send, I don’t think you quite realised that my landlord has now issued a notice to quit, the period of which terminates this month, and, as I tried to explain, I have been let go from my position at the slaughterhouse � I stress that these are not metaphors, or ironic parables, dear Mr Rilke. It could be that you thought I was speaking poetically. This was sadly not the case. This being so, I was wondering if you could see your way to being able to advance me a sum of somewhere in the region of 2500 marks to get me through the coldest winter we have experienced in many a long year. I put it to you plainly � the last bottle of gin was finished last night and I am hoping that wallpaper contains some nutriments because that is the only edible thing left in the house from which I will be imminently ejected. 3000 marks of course will be better, I could then replace my boots and would not have to walk the streets wearing two blocks of ice. I know you many times advised me to embrace my solitude, to not demand answers to life’s questions but to live intimately with the questions themselves, but surely, not to the point where one might reasonably be expected to contract tuberculosis.
Your affectionate correspondent
Franz Xaver Kappus
Berlin 1928
PS � at a stretch I can live with 2000 marks if I sell some minor body parts to the Hospital.
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Reading Progress
August 3, 2020
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August 3, 2020
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August 3, 2020
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Vladys
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rated it 3 stars
Aug 03, 2020 03:39PM
Nice! I actually had a project once to write the missing letters of Kappus. Came to naught or half a page of scribbled lines...
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Ouch. Now I know I have to read this one.
doesn't take too long....
The amount of times Rilke tells Kappus to just get over his troubles and find the ‘good in it all� have convinced me that Rilke definitely had a ‘live, laugh, love� tattoo somewhere on his person.
his favourite song would surely be Don't Worry Be Happy
