The notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

Rilke's classic non-novel foreshadows the work of modernists from William Gass to Renata Adler and Charles Simmons; the book consists entirely of narrator Brigge's steadily churning, now-and-then-whining metaphor machine--with memories, Parisian horrors, remarkable meditations on love, women, illness, loneliness, postponement. Mitchell, whose recent Rilke poetry translations were well-received, is lighter on the archaisms than is the hitherto-standard translation of M. Herter Norton (""alas"" becomes ""ah""); and there is more suppleness of diction here. Still, Rilke's prose is less subject to great change by translation than the poetry is--so readers of this new version will receive a Notebooks that is perhaps cleaner but not significantly clearer than the older attempt. And, in either package, it's a special, frequently magisterial, sometimes tiresome, fiercely personal tour de force. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.