His career as a translator began at Princeton University, where a version of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus formed part of his PhD thesis in Comparative Literature. Continuing to work on Rilke over the years, he published Rilke’s Late Poetry: Duino Elegies, The Sonnets to Orpheus, and Selected Last Poems with Ronsdale Press in 2005. Since then, the poems of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe have been the main focus of his translating work. He has also published books on the essay as a literary genre—The Observing Self: Rediscovering the Essay (London and New York: Routledge, 1988, reissued in 2014 in the series Routledge Revivals) — and on recent literary theory—Humanism Betrayed: Theory, Ideology and Culture in the Contemporary University (Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001). Graham makes his home in Vancouver, British Columbia.

PRAISE FOR GRAHAM GOOD’S

RILKE’S LATE POETRY

“Graham Good’s translations of Rilke read like fresh, original poems, fresh in their English rhymes and cadences, fresh as Rilke in transforming elegy into eulogy, sorrow into consolation. . . .”

— Robert Fagles, late Professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton University, translator of Homer, Virgil and Aeschylus

“Graham Good’s translations are quiet and careful, with an ear, especially, for the shimmering experiences behind the words.”

— Norman Fischer, poet, author and Zen Buddhist priest

“Elegant and vigorous, these translations give us the Rilke we know, anew. Graham Good’s sensitivity makes this collection especially intimate and moving.”

— Stephanie Bolster, Governor General’s Award-winner for poetry

“Good’s rendition is respectful and creative, and our perceptions of Rilke are deepened by reading his book.”

— Vancouver Sun

“The work is lucid and accessible, its lambent language as if Rilke had written the poems today. . . . An excellent text.”

— Pacific Rim Review of Books

“Good’s translation . . . [is] as clear in imagery, as dexterous in syntax and smooth and sharp in rhythm as one could hope”

— Canadian Notes and Queries

“The strength of Good’s translation is that while he is faithful to the original, he strives to make the work relevant to current poetics. . . . It is now my definitive edition.”

— Word: Canada’s Magazine for Readers + Writers