The circumstances in which Rainer Maria Rilke invented himself were among the least propitious to the art of poetry of any in modern times. To understand fully the nature of Rilke’s achievement, one must therefore understand these circumstances in all their variety. Although Donald Prater gives a lively account of them in his new biography, the book is not without its problems.

At virtually every step of his narration, Prater has chosen to indicate the changeful spiritual condition of Rilke through reference to the poet’s voluminous and energetic correspondence, piecing together his subject like a mosaic or jigsaw puzzle. In theory, this seems an appealing and self-effacing way of presenting a biographical subject, but after reading over four hundred pages of this approach, one is no closer than before to understanding Rilke’s achievement. The problem with the technique is, first of all, that it sacrifices objective scholarly inquiry in favor of lengthy autobiographical details from Rilke’s letters. Second, at least in its present application, it tends too readily to take Rilke at his word, when in fact the poet was adept not only at assuming a variety of postures in his correspondence with people whom he was bent on impressing, but also at pulling the wool over his own eyes.

In his writings, Rilke appears to be constantly describing his own life, but in fact he is indefatigably postulating a fictional identity to which throughout his life he was busy trying to conform. This ambition is reflected