{"product_id":"my-lifes-dark-hours-rilke-journal","title":"My Life’s Dark Hours — Rilke Journal","description":"\u003cp\u003eBook I of \u003cem\u003eDas Stunden-Buch\u003c\/em\u003e was not written in one sitting, or one year. Rilke came back to the work in three separate bursts — 1899, 1901, 1903 — before Insel published it in Leipzig in 1905. The book you’re looking at is built on the same permission.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“I love my life’s dark hours…”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nRainer Maria Rilke, \u003cem\u003eThe Book of Hours\u003c\/em\u003e (1905), Book I, poem 6\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e— Jessie Lemont translation, 1918. Public domain.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eContext\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cover stops mid-thought and stays there. That’s the argument of the object: a sentence left open on the outside, and eighty blank pages behind it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYou are not expected to finish it tonight, or well, or in order. The poem it comes from took four years and three attempts, and it was published anyway.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWho It’s For\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou’re the one who writes when it’s hard, not only when it’s going well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIf you’ve ever written the real version of something at an hour you’d never admit to\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIf you’ve ever started a notebook, abandoned it for a year, and come back to the same page\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIf you’ve ever needed the page more than you needed anyone to read it\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFinish the sentence.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Design\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe circle is drawn bigger than the line can fit inside it. \u003cem\u003eI love my\u003c\/em\u003e begins outside it on the left, \u003cem\u003elife’s dark\u003c\/em\u003e runs out past it on the right, and the sentence goes straight through the middle rather than sitting politely within. Whatever this is meant to hold, it isn’t holding it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe mark is an ensō — the Zen circle made in a single breath and deliberately left open at the top — carried in pewter, the one value that crosses cream letters without swallowing them. The line stops early, and the three dots of the ellipsis come down on the ring itself. The cream of the type is the cream of the paper inside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eAbout This Journal\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHardcover bound journal\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e80 lined pages, cream stock\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e5.5″ × 8.5″\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBuilt-in elastic closure\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRibbon page marker\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eExpandable inner pocket\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eRainer Maria Rilke, in Plain English\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLived 1875–1926 — born in Prague, wrote in German, worked across Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eDas Stunden-Buch\u003c\/em\u003e was written in three short bursts — 1899, 1901 and 1903 — and published in Leipzig by Insel Verlag in 1905\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBook I is written in the borrowed voice of a monk, as a sequence of prayers rather than poems with titles\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eLetters to a Young Poet\u003c\/em\u003e — ten letters written between 1903 and 1908 to a young military cadet — was published in 1929 and is still widely read\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRobert Bly’s later English version opens this line “I love the dark hours of my being.” The wording printed here is Jessie Lemont’s, from 1918 — the version in the public domain\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eMore from this collection\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"\/products\/my-lifes-dark-hours-rilke-phone-case\"\u003eMy Life’s Dark Hours — Rilke Phone Case\u003c\/a\u003e — the same abbreviated line, carried\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"\/products\/my-lifes-dark-hours-rilke-organic-edition-t-shirt\"\u003eMy Life’s Dark Hours — Rilke Organic Edition T-Shirt\u003c\/a\u003e — the full couplet, on organic cotton\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"\/products\/dark-hours-rilke-tee\"\u003eMy Life’s Dark Hours — Rilke T-Shirt\u003c\/a\u003e — the full couplet, standard cotton\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"\/pages\/rilke-circles\"\u003eExplore “I live my life in circles” →\u003c\/a\u003e — the quote page for the line four poems earlier\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/collections\/rilke\"\u003eThe full Rilke collection\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Quoteiac","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43137055490142,"sku":"5773245_16952","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0554\/8664\/4318\/files\/My-Lifes-Dark-Hours-Rilke-Journal-view-01.png?v=1786222026","url":"https:\/\/quoteiac.com\/products\/my-lifes-dark-hours-rilke-journal","provider":"Quoteiac","version":"1.0","type":"link"}