5

I remember very vividly this quote of Rilke about his sleep behavior mentioned in one of his letters (quoted from memory):

12 oder 18 Stunden - mag er nehmen was er will! ("er" refers to "Schlaf")

meaning that he does not over-regulate his sleep behavior and let the sleep take what it needs - let it flow...

Question:

In which letter does Rilke mention this quote and what does it say precisely as this is quoted from memory.

I am pretty sure it was contained in the volume of letters of Rilke I possess and which I photographed in this question - but it might be somewhere else as well, as a duplicate or original.

All references to this passage are welcome!

1 Answer 1

8

The source is a letter to Lou Andreas-Salomé dated 13 January 1923. The context of the quote is as follows (emphasis mine):

Indessen: ich kümmere mich nicht allzuviel um diese, die mittleren Organe angreifenden Schwankungen; höchstens, daß ich meine Energie verwende, die vom Geist over vom Gemüt ausgehenden, intensiven Vibrationen für die Essensstunde ebenso "abzustellen", wie mir das ja dem Schlaf gegenüber meistens gelingt. Dieser große Gott: der Schlaf; ich opfere ihm ohne jeden Zeit-Geiz — was kümmert ihn Zeit! — zehn Stunden, elf, ja zwölf, wenn er sie annehmen mag in seiner erhabenen mild-schweigenden Art! Nur leider gelingt es mir jetzt selten, früh schlafen zu gehen; abends ist meine Lesezeit.

In the English translation by Jane Bannard Greene and M. D. Herter Norton (Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke, volume 2, page 320) this is:

Meanwhile: I am not worrying too much about these fluctuations attacking the central organs; at most that I should use my energy to "turn off" for the meal hour the intensive vibrations emanating from mind or mood just as I mostly succeed in doing with regard to sleep. That great god: Sleep; I sacrifice to him without any time-avarice—what does time matter to him!—ten hours, eleven, even twelve, if he wants to accept them in his lofty, mildly-silent way! Only unfortunately I seldom manage now to go to bed early; evening is my reading time.

This is the same letter that mentions Proust in a passage about not politically active people whose influence works in a very different way.

The letter is included in Mitten im Lesen schreib ich dir (published by Suhrkamp), from which you screenshotted the table of contents in the question Where else did Rilke mention John on Patmos?. See pages 194–197.

2
  • Thank you! Sorry for a follow-up question but do you also have a Chinese translation of the highlighted passage, either by yourself or by a reference text? @Tsundoku Commented Nov 16 at 7:11
  • 1
    @ChristophMark Unfortunately, my knowledge of Chinese is much too limited to provide that.
    – Tsundoku
    Commented Nov 16 at 13:09

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.