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June 9, 2007
rilke on rodin III
He read much. In the streets of Brussels he was always seen with a book in his hand, a book which was perchance but a cover for his preoccupation with himself and with the tremendous task before him. As in the case of all men of action, the feeling that he had before him a piece of work of indefinite duration acted as an incentive, as something that heightened and concentrated his powers. And when beset by doubts and uncertainties, by the great impatience of conscious immaturity, by the fear of an early death or by the threatened lack of daily necessities, he met these things with a quiet, resolute resistance, a defiance, a strength, a confidence, all the unfurled flags of a great victory.
When others began to doubt him, he had no longer any doubt of himself. That all lay behind him. His destiny no longer depended upon the approval and the judgment of the multitude, it had already been decided when others imagined they could still destroy it by ridicule and hostility. During this period of development he was undisturbed by any voice from without. There reached him neither praise to mislead him nor blame to confuse him. Like Parzival, his work was cradled in purity, alone with itself and with great eternal Nature.
For if, at this period, he ever received encouragement and confirmation of his aim and of his quest, it came from the works of the ancients and from out the darkness of the cathedrals. Men did not speak to him. Stones spoke.
Strength from the depths of the earth seemed to rise into the veins of this man.
Rodin reverted again and again in his figures to this turning-inward-upon-oneself, this tense listening to inner depths.
Rilke - Auguste Rodin
Posted by amin at June 9, 2007 4:03 PM