Does anyone know what a Rilkean Angel is? I googled for it but didn’t seen any sites with descriptions, only passing references. Also, WTF is this starkeren Desein thing? Any details would be greatly appreciated.
A Rilkean Angel is Rainer Maria Rilke’s (1875-1926) version of the angelic form, as expressed in his poems. Often said to be something like a guardian figure, yet unlike the Christian traditional version.
As for starkaren Dasein, this page may explain:
Bolding mine.
Wow! I blunder into this thread and it has a Watchmen reference!
Cool beans! 
The Watchmen is set in an alternative timeline of the 1980’s, where the Cold War once again has the populace worried about nuclear annihilation.
Most of the main characters, such as Ozymandias, Night Owl, and Jupiter Girl are costumed vigilantes who, as Night Owl puts it, have “nothing better to offer than a good right hook.”
Dr. Manhattan, OTOH, is a truly atomic superman who can perceive and manipulate all space and time as if everything and everyone were occurring simultaneously. His presence in the United States prevents an all-out nuclear conflagration because both the Americans and the Soviets assume he is capable of simply removing threatening nuclear weapons from existence.
This will ruin it for those who haven’t finished it yet, so…
[spoiler]Ozymandias is planning to save the world from its perilous state by dropping a huge psychically-sensitive genetically-engineered nightmare creature on New York via the “imperfect teleportation” his technologies companies have invented. The creature will die instantly, sending out a psychic shockwave which will kill millions of New Yorkers. According to his plan, the governments of Earth, fearing they are under attack from an extra-dimensional or extra-terrestrial foe, will put an end to their conflicts and join forces to prepare for an invasion that will never happen.
Manhattan, of course, would be an obstacle to this, so, over the years, Ozymandias has been employing people close to him (Manhattan’s girlfriend, his former lab partner, his arch-nemesis Moloch) in situations where they were exposed to radiation that gave them uncurable cancer.
Someone points out during a television conference that all these people close to Manhattan have contracted incurable cancer, and Manhattan exiles himself to Mars, fearing that his mere presence is responsible.[/spoiler]
Thanks for the link Ice Wolf. Now I have a name to search for at my library. That should be more helpful then just ‘Rilkean angel’. 
pseikier, I’ve heard of Watchmen but never read it before. Wasn’t it written by Alan Moore? I really enjoyed The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen so I might have to give that a look too. I guess I’ll have to check Barnes and Noble next time I’m there. I hope it’s as good as League.
It’s a wonderful work, cletus, well worth the money to get the trade paperback.
I want to read League before the movie comes out; I heard it was good and I don’t want the movie to spoil it for me until I can enjoy the book.
I don’t know much about the League movie but I am going to assume it sucks ahead of time :). I saw the trailer of it from the quicktime site and there were many things I disliked. I guess I’m starting to stray off topic here so I’ll shut up now. You can email me if you wanna talk more about it.