Now Rilke's own life and work makes great demands on the receptivity, the empathy, the sensitivity of his readers; even his contemporaries were only hesitantly willing to receive his work. Chronological distance can improve as well as impede understanding. The present day is divided by almost half a century from the author's death, by almost a full century from the beginning of his life. Between the borderlines of a silently growing receptivity to the works and a creeping obscurity, there is room enough for intensive biographical work. For Rilke the existing gap can be closed only warily and gradually, within modest limitations, in view of the wealth of as yet unexplored material left behind -- the documentary material must first stand its ground beside the interpretation. - p. 8.