Rainer Maria Rilke offers a compelling portrait of Parisian life, art, and culture at the beginning of the 20th century In 1902, the young German poet Rainer Maria Rilke travelled to Paris to write a monograph on the sculptor Auguste Rodin. He returned many times over the course of his life, by turns inspired and appalled by the city's high culture and low society, and his writings give a fascinating insight into Parisian art and culture in the last century. This book brings together Rilke's sublime poetic meditations on existence Notes on the Melody of Things and the first English translation of Rilke's experiences in Paris as observed by his French translator Maurice Betz.

"An astounding collection of Rilke's ruminations on Paris life" - Foreword Reviews

"Maurice Betz manages to fuse Rilke's thoughts into his own account of the story, creating a narrative that completes the artistic portrait of the seminal poet" - Pendora Magazine

"Provides an intriguing... glimpse of early-20th-century literary Paris" - Publishers Weekly