This thick volume's appeal will be limited to two small but intellectually impassioned audiences: scholars of the interrelations of philosophy and poetry in general and those specifically interested in Rilke as a philosophical poet in the tradition of Hoelderlin ... Fischer's command of the vast secondary literature of his chosen fields is remarkable. The author does a good job reminding readers of what has been covered as the text moves along ... A remarkable effort of great erudition and insight, this book will find a place in the field of phenomenology of literary aesthetics as well as Rilke studies. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and researchers. -- M. McCulloh, Davidson College * CHOICE *
Fischer manages expertly to balance a compelling theoretical interpretation of Rilke's New Poems with all the sensitivity to form of a practitioner ... By reading Rilke's New Poems as a form of phenomenology in their own right, Fischer performs the original hermeneutic task of proceeding from the unity of what is actually being said, to explain what the poem wishes to say. He does so with an exquisite attention to form that offers compelling new readings of Rilke's work. As such, The Poet as Phenomenologist makes a substantial and original contribution to scholarship on Rilke as a philosophical poet ... as well as to broader attempts ... to break down the dichotomy between literature and philosophy in German letters. * Monatshefte *
Fischer, as a poet himself, comes into his own when he writes about [Rilke's] poems ... [A] fresh reading of Rilke as a poet who evokes the world we are in and belong to, rather than are alienated from and trying to escape. * Times Literary Supplement *
Luke Fischer focuses on Rilke's 'diligence and devotion' to seeing phenomena as suffused with meaning and to embodying this seeing in enabling words. He traces the development of Rilke's poetic practice to his encounters with Cezanne, Rodin, and Jakob von Uexkull's Umwelt theory, and in close readings he elucidates the disclosive powers of some of the major poems in Rilke's Neue Gedichte. The result is a compelling demonstration of the ability of Rilke's poetic art to capture meanings in the world in a way that recovers an understanding of distinctively human attentive being within nature. This is vital work for anyone concerned with poetry and the fate of the human. * Richard Eldridge, Charles and Harriett Cox McDowell Professor of Philosophy, Swarthmore College, USA *
While the New Poems have already been the subject of much critical inquiry and commentary, Fischer makes the case for reading them freshly. ... This is a cogent and enlightening volume that brings a new, systematic and thoughtful set of perspectives to the understanding of Rilke's New Poems. * Cordite Poetry Review (reviewed by Paul Hetherington, University of Canberra, Australia) *
Like Hoelderlin, Rainer Maria Rilke has long been viewed as a 'philosophical poet' and has, therefore, held a special fascination for philosophers. Luke Fischer's book is situated in this context. It examines Rilke's relation to phenomenology, and is chiefly concerned with Rilke's significance for an overcoming of dualism, especially in the period of the New Poems. With this book Fischer has made a substantial contribution both to Rilke scholarship and to phenomenological research. * Christoph Jamme, Professor of Philosophy, Leuphana University Luneburg, Germany *
How might philosophy become more like poetry? This is precisely the question at the heart of Luke Fischer's The Poet as Phenomenologist ... [A] valuable addition to Rilke scholarship in English, particularly for its careful and comprehensive analysis of Rilke's poetics of vision. -- Kari Driscoll * The Germanic Review *
