A Look Into the Rilke/Rodin Relationship

At Hyperallergic, we get another take on the rich and complicated relationship between Rilke the poet and Rodin the sculptor. Daniel Larkin provides his perspective on Rachel Corbett's You Must Change Your Life: The Story of Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin (excerpted here), beginning with Rilke and Rodin's first meeting in September of 1902. Larkin reports expectations were low: "Neither probably expected they would hit it off as much as they did. But long talks about art, and how to cultivate a work ethic bonded them together. Ten days into his initial stay on Rodin’s estate, Rilke wrote Rodin an affectionate letter confessing their dialogue’s intense effect. Rodin offered the young poet an open invitation to observe his studio for the next four months. During that time, Rilke not only gleaned insights for his monograph, but discovered how to be a better poet." Larkin picks up the story from there:

Three years later in September of 1905, Rilke took a job as Rodin’s assistant and lived with him full-time on his country estate. For the first time, Rodin’s correspondence was prompt and his files organized. Rilke relished more long talks with Rodin and the book is filled with examples of how Rodin stimulated the poet during this period of employment and intense dialogue.

One of the more amusing examples is how Rodin said good night to Rilke. Rather than “bonne nuit,” Rodin would say, “bon courage,” roughly translated to “show courage” or “have good courage,” but this idiomatic expression is hard to translate. While an unusual way to say good night, Rodin was trying to telegraph to Rilke that he would need to be courageous as he prepared for the next day’s inevitable challenges.

Predictably, the honeymoon didn’t last forever. A row over a letter Rilke wrote to one of Rodin’s contacts without permission in April 1906 aroused Rodin’s suspicion, so he fired Rilke. But an indelible impression was nevertheless left on the poet.

Larkin goes on to look at the way Rilke's own letters to a young Franz Kappus may have echoed his relationship with Rodin. And yes, those later letters formed the famed Letters to Young Poet, gasp! Show courage and read on at Hyperallergic.