For 25 years, briefly as lovers then long as close friends, German poet Rilke (1875-1926) wrote of his emotional life to writer and intellectual Lou Andreas-Salomé (1861-1937). His letters demonstrate his growing verbal skill and the agonies of the soul that found creative expression in his poems. The German original was published in 1975 by Insel Verlag, Frankfurt; the English translation was first published in 2006 as Rainer Maria Rilke and Lou Andreas-Salomé: The Correspondence. Snow and Winkler (both Rice U., Texas) translated Rilke's diaries 1898-1900. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)