| To Duration | |
| Author: | Peter Handke |
| Title Orig: | Gedicht an die Dauer |
| Orig Lang Code: | de |
| Translator: | Scott Abbott |
| Country: | West Germany |
| Language: | German |
| Publisher: | Suhrkamp Verlag |
| Pub Date: | 1986 |
| English Pub Date: | 2015 |
| Pages: | 54 |
| Isbn: | 3518019309 |
To Duration (de|Gedicht an die Dauer) is a long poem by the Austrian writer Peter Handke, published as a book by Suhrkamp Verlag in 1986. It is about duration in relation to time, material things, locations and personal origin, combined with memories from a sailing trip along the Turkish coast, the longing for a home, relationships and exploration of the self.[1]
The poem is inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's writings about individuality and Henri Bergson's conception of duration in "Introduction to Metaphysics".[2] It uses inner dialectic to engage in self-discovery through images of the past, their relation to the present, poetic intuition and self-awareness in the process of writing.
The Last Books published To Duration in English interpretation by Scott Abbott in 2015.[3]