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There is a lovely collection of the letters between Rilke and Salomé, (Rainer Maria Rilke and Lou Andreas-Salomé: The Correspondence) that, unlike most collections of letters between friends is remarkable for its lack of the little mundane details of life. The weather is rarely mentioned, and only then to some purpose (“Today it is raining,” writes Rilke in a farewell sentence, “No doubt also on Kufstein and Pushkin.”). The reader who is curious about the progression of either writer’s outer life will find very little to satisfy him here. But as a record of their inner lives, it is remarkably complex and captivating. . .read full review