Rainier Maria Rilke works at his writing desk in the Hôtel Biron, Paris [Source: Requiem for a Friend]
I found this photo yesterday as I jumped from Rainier Maria Rilke to Paula Modersohn-Becker and back again. It comes from a web site supporting a 2005 independent film (The Greater Circulation) about the writing of Requiem for a Friend. I’m not absolutely certain wheter the image here is historic or comes from the film. Something about the setting of this photo felt familiar. Hôtel Biron. Where was that? My map-making mind wanted to know. Have I been there? Which arrondissement?
This morning I came across a photo by métrogirl that made it all clear. The Hôtel Biron is the site today of the Musée Rodin in the VIIe. I have been there. Mmétrogirl has published a fine Musée Rodin photo set.
![Gustave Caillebotte. Paris Street, Rainy Day (La Place de l’Europe, temps de pluie). 1877. Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago. [Source: Wikimedia Commons]](../../../../wp-content/uploads/2009/02/gustave_caillebotte_paris_street_rainy_day_1877_wiki.jpg "gustave_caillebotte_paris_street_rainy_day")
![Fog at Isle Royale [Source: wildmengoneborneo.com]](../../../../wp-content/uploads/2008/04/isle_royale_fog.jpg "Fog at Isle Royale [Source: wildmengoneborneo.com]")
If there is an emerging genetic underclass, I could run for class president or class clown. Read more in 
Thanks for the recent posts about Rilke.
Do you know about LOST SON, the new novel based on Rilke’s life and work? Paula Modersohn-Becker is a principle character in the book, and more than half of the story focuses on Rilke’s time in Paris.
LOST SON appeared in June, and is available in bookstores and libraries everywhere.
More at http://www.mallencunningham.com
Cheers.
No, I didn’t know about your novel, but I’d love to read it. As a blind reader, I need it in a format that is accessible to me. Is there an audio version, either commercially produced or in production by NLS? That’s the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, also known as the Library of Congress Talking Book program. If not, maybe we can work on getting it into an accessible format. Many thanks for the contact.