The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge was Rainer Maria Rilke's only novel, and is said to have greatly influenced such other writers as Jean-Paul Sartre. It was written whilst Rilke lived in Paris, and was published in 1910. The novel is semi-autobiographical, and is written in an expressionistic style. The work was inspired by Sigbjørn Obstfelder's work A Priest's Diary and Jens Peter Jacobsen's second novel Niels Lyhne of 1880, which traces the fate of an atheist in a merciless world.
Rainer Maria Rilke book The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
Original: (de) Mein Gott, fiel es mir mit Ungestüm ein, so bist du also. Es giebt Beweise für deine Existenz. Ich habe sie alle vergessen und habe keinen je verlangt, denn welche unge heuere Verpflichtung läge in deiner Gewißheit. Und doch, nun wird mirs gezeigt.
Source: The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge (1910), p. 135
Rainer Maria Rilke book The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
Source: The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
Rainer Maria Rilke book The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
Source: The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
