Rainer Maria Rilke (1975-1926) was born in Prague and traveled throughout Europe, returning frequently to Paris, where he wrote his finest works: the two volumes of
New Poems and the great modernist novel
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. He lived the last years of his life in Switzerland, where he completed his two poetic masterworks, the
Duino Elegies and
Sonnets to Orpheus.
Joel Agee has translated Elias Canetti, Friedrich Dürenmatt, and Gottfried Benn. He won the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize for his work on Heinrich von Kleist's verse play
Penthesilea. He is the author of
Twelve Years: An American Boyhood in East Germany.