Growth

FROM 1895 to 1896, Rilke studied at Prague University. At first he attended lectures on philosophy and on the history of art and literature; in the summer term of 1896, he also attended lectures on law. This was probably the last occasion on which his father exerted any real influence on his activities; or it may have been due to a sense of obligation towards his cousins who were financing his studies; in any case, it was but a passing phase. His life by now had begun to take a definite course, although no unambiguous proof of this had yet been given, and he himself was probably by no means certain of it. He was, however, now a litterateur who frequented literary circles in Prague and corresponded with poets and publishers. Early in 1896, he edited Jung-Deutschland und Jung-Oesterreich, an edition of the Halbmonatschrift für Dichtkunst, Kritik und modernes Leben Jung-Deutschland und Jung-Elsas specially prepared for Austria. It was issued by the publisher who, in 1894, had published Rilke’s first small collection of poems Life and Songs. It was not a periodical of any importance, nor did Rilke’s editorship last for any length of time. ¹