Today, the 4th of December, is Rainer Maria Rilke’s birthday. Honoring the poet, three biographies appeared in 2025, which I am about to read: Sandra Richter’s “Rilke or The Open Life”, Manfred Koch’s “Rilke – Poet of Anxiety” and Ruediger Shaper’s Rainer Maria Rilke: The Prophet of the Avant-Garde.

All three in the German Language. In the biogaphy by Manfred Koch, Rilke’s traumatic experiences are shown to be pivotal in forming his psychological make-up and artistic drive. Several reviews confirm that Koch presents Rilke’s anxieties not as much as an obstacle but as the very creative engine for his poetry.

Being interested in ways in which art and literature are utilized to cope with pain, and trauma, I will be reading eagerly…