Rainer Maria Rilke Diskussionforum

Hi to all
Does anyone know where the following comes from?

How could one sustain, how could one save the visible, if not by creating the language of absence, of the invisible?

Many thanks in advance for all your efforts
Irit

Might be helpful if you had the original german quotation ;-P

Hi Andrea,
Thanks a lot, could you provide me with the source?
Your citation sounds possible in view of my scarce information..of course I would have preferred to hold more accurate information but all I have is the short[end] phrase...
regards and thanks again
Irit

Hey Irit,

actually, with or without the original quotation, I hardly can. One would have to translate the sentence on his own, and hope that it's close to the original written by Rilke himself. I figure it should run like: "Wie könnte/sollte jemand das Sichtbare ertragen, wie es retten, wenn nicht durch die (Er-)Schaffung/Schöpfung einer Sprache des Abwesenden, des Unsichtbaren?"

I can't remember having read it anywhere, honestly. But there are lot more qualified people than me on this forum, maybe they can help you =)

Greetz,

Andrea

Also wenn ich hier in die Suchfunktion "Sichtbares" und "Unsichtbares" eingebe, so kommt als Antwort dieser Satz aus dem RODIN-Aufsatz: "Aus der Angst vor den unsichtbaren Gerichten eines schweren Glaubens hatte man sich zu diesem Sichtbaren gerettet, vor dem Ungewissen flüchtetete man zu dieser Verwirklichung." Entspricht dem Englischen nur teilweise, ist aber das einzige, das angegeben wird.
Gruß
gliwi

Hallo Irit,

I'm sorry to say that I cannot really help you, as I - like Andrea - did not come across exactly this quotation yet.
But I don't think gliwi's Rodin-quotation has anything to do with it.

Much rather I would recommend you to read the 9. Duineser Elegie:

• ... Und diese, von Hingang
  lebenden Dinge verstehn, daß du sie rühmst; vergänglich,
  traun sie ein Rettendes uns, den Vergänglichsten, zu.
  Wollen, wir sollen sie ganz im unsichtbarn Herzen verwandeln
  in - o unendlich - in uns! Wer wir am Ende auch seien.
  
  
  Erde, ist es nicht dies, was du willst: unsichtbar
  in uns erstehn? - Ist es dein Traum nicht,
  einmal unsichtbar zu sein? - Erde! unsichtbar!
  Was, wenn Verwandlung nicht, ist dein drängender Auftrag
  Erde, du liebe, ich will. ...

Furthermore, there is Rilke's letter to Witold Hulewicz, 1925 11 13 (lilaloufan posted parts of it here).

If you need any help with translations, feel free to ask, we will try our best!

And may I ask you: if you find the original quotation, would you please tell us?
I'm especially interested in the first part: "How could one sustain, ..." which Andrea translated: "Wie könnte/sollte jemand das Sichtbare ertragen..."
That could be correct. But I am not sure if "sustain" here really is used with "the visible" as an object. Couldn't it also be intransitive? Then it would mean something like "Wie könnte man standhalten, wie das Sichtbare retten..." which would suggest that no human being could "sustain" without "saving the visible" ...

But, alas: how could one... know this without finding Rilke's original words?


Good luck

stilz