Hugo von Hofmannsthal is one of the modern era's most important writers,
but his fame as Richard Strauss's pioneering collaborator on such operas
as Der Rosenkavalier and Die Frau ohne Schatten has obscured his
other remarkable writings: his precocious lyric poetry, inventive short
fiction, keen essays, and visionary plays. The Whole Difference, which
includes new translations as well as classic ones long out of print, is
a fresh introduction to the enormous range of this extraordinary artist,
and the most comprehensive collection of Hofmannsthal's writings in
English.
Selected and edited by the poet and librettist J. D. McClatchy, this
collection includes early lyric poems; short prose works, including "The
Tale of Night Six Hundred and Seventy-Two," "A Tale of the Cavalry," and
the famous "Letter of Lord Chandos"; two full-length plays, The
Difficult Man and The Tower; as well as the first act of The
Cavalier of the Rose. From the glittering salons of imperial Vienna to
the bloodied ruins of Europe after the Great War, the landscape of
Hofmannsthal's world stretches across the extremes of experience. This
collection reflects those extremes, including both the sparkling social
comedy of "the difficult man" Hans Karl, so sensitive that he cannot
choose between the two women he loves, and the haunting fictional letter
to Francis Bacon in which Lord Chandos explains why he can no longer
write. Complete with an introduction by McClatchy, this collection
reveals an artist whose unusual subtlety and depth will enthrall
readers.
