You Must Change Your Life: The Story of Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin

First-time author Corbett traces the lives of two great artists, poet Rainer Maria Rilke and sculptor Auguste Rodin, in a smartly written biography. Corbett begins, somewhat shakily, by sketching in Rilke and Rodin’s lives before their meeting. Despite these two mini-biographies being roughly equal in length, the Rodin piece feel rushed and the Rilke piece feels drawn out. When they do meet, the book kicks into gear. Corbett skillfully tracks Rilke’s process of finding his artistic voice, and by the time of Rilke and Rodin’s famous split, though it’s clear that both could be rather unpleasant people, the reader fully sympathizes with their pain over their estrangement. The pair’s eventual reconciliation is thus all the more satisfying. Also of note are the book’s glimpses of the figures in orbit around Rodin and Rilke’s story, including George Bernard Shaw, Jean Cocteau, and Paul Cézanne, as well as Louise Andreas-Salomé, a poet who was Rilke’s lover and muse, and Clara Westhoff, a student of Rodin’s who eventually married Rilke. Rilke and Rodin, both intriguing figures in their own right, are only the more fascinating when treated together as fellow artists and close friends. [em]Agent: Larry Weissman, Larry Weissman Literary LLC. (Sept.) [/em]