Poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke was also a prolific letter writer, frequently corresponding with his dedicated and maternal patroness, Marie von Thurn und Taxis. Rilke, who met the 54-year-old princess at 34, carefully saved their correspondence in envelopes or tied up in multicolored ribbons; the writer, who shows up in the princess’ memoirs, chose to dedicate his Duino Elegies to her. Below, Rilke details a visit with a clairvoyant, and discusses his desires to start his life anew.
Paris, 17 Rue Campagne-Premiére,
21. October (1913)
Dear Friend,
Your letter was the first I found here (might I look upon that as a good omen!), for I’ve been here again in Paris since Saturday, alas, I had not the slightest desire to come back, but I have been almost everywhere and I had no excuse left to go anywhere else. If I am not mistaken, life here is horribly sad and diminished, I will not be able to spend what one calls ‘winter’ here – you must know that before I got into the train, I was struggling against a strong urge to come to you and to go on to Sicily—but it would have been so much a journey into the blue, here at least I have my books (that mean nothing to me), I have my furniture (which I detest), but nevertheless there are some outer reasons for being here; everywhere else one feels unwanted, but here I have made myself this little niche, though I have railed against it since—but one must lie on the bed one has made. If only my things were not all imbued with a past I do not wish to continue by this present state of mine; alas, how bad my life has been these last years! I would like to begin again—but will I be capable of it?
I saw much of Annette Kolb in Munich, very little came of my plan to stir up the ‘spirits’ in my favour; evidently the spirits will have none of me. In the end I visited a clairvoyant who gazed into a crystal ball, a worthy woman who assured me I possessed twice as much ‘fluid’ as she herself. She promised me I would succeed in making use of it (Heaven preserve me!) and that I could write automatically at any time without needing anyone else. Thereupon Annette, whom I had told about these results, obtained a very nice planchette from London—we made one single attempt together, but I was quite disgusted, I feel that I am transgressing I know not what law in lending my hand to this manoeuvre, so I did not want to do it again. And yet I would so much like the ‘Unknown Lady’ to speak to me…
From The Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke and Princess Marie Von Thurn Und Taxis. Edited by Nora Wydenbruck. Norfolk, CT: New Directions, 1958. Print.
FURTHER READING
Listen to Tom O’Bedlam’s reading of Stephen Cohn’s translation of Rilke’s “Abishag.”
Read about spectral author Patience Worth, another occult phenomena that occurred in this era.