George Steiner: A Reader

by George Steiner

Overview

As an incisive and provocative critic of literature, language, and culture, George Steiner has acquired an international reputation and a devoted following. "He scatters bright ideas everywhere," writes The New York Times Book Review, "and they are sure to be picked up." This volume presents a rich sampling of Steiner's ideas, including selections from his seminal books The Death of Tragedy, After Babel, Tolstoy or Dostoevsky, and Language and Science. Aside from pointing to work that lies ahead, this anthology offers a rich retrospective of the intellectual ground Steiner has already covered. Whether discussing Marxist literary theory, the significance of Tolstoy, or the problems of treating sexual material in literature, Steiner's writings give us the pleasure of watching an astute and nimble mind constantly at work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195050684
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/28/1987
Edition description:	REPRINT
Pages:	450
Product dimensions:	5.58(w) x 8.52(h) x 1.11(d)

About the Author

George Steiner is Extraordinary Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, and Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Geneva. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, fellowships, and honorary doctorates.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	7
	The Critical Act
	To Civilize our Gentlemen (1965; from Language and Silence)	25
	Marxism and the Literary Critic (1958; from Language and Silence)	37
	Georg Lukacs and His Devil's Pact (1960; from Language and Silence)	54
	'Critic'/'Reader' (1979; from New Literary History)	67
	Readings
	Nineteenth-Century America and Russia (1959; from Tolstoy or Dostoevsky)	101
	Homer and Tolstoy (1959; from Tolstoy or Dostoevsky)	109
	Tolstoy's Immanence in the World (1959; from Tolstoy or Dostoevsky)	118
	The Final Comparison (1959; from Tolstoy or Dostoevsky)	132
	Racine (1961; from The Death of Tragedy)	136
	Verse in Tragedy (1961; from The Death of Tragedy)	154
	Tragedy and Myth (1961; from The Death of Tragedy)	159
	Epilogue (1961; from The Death of Tragedy)	165
	Obsessions
	A Death of Kings (1968; from Extraterritorial)	171
	The Cleric of Treason (1980; from the New Yorker, 8 December)	178
	Matters German
	The Hollow Miracle (1959; from Language and Silence)	207
	A Kind of Survivor (1965; from Language and Silence)	220
	Schoenberg's 'Moses und Aron' (1965; from Language and Silence)	234
	Postscript (1966; from Language and Silence)	246
	Heidegger's Silence (1980; from Martin Heidegger)	258
	Lieber's Lament (1979; from The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H.)	266
	The Defence of A.H. (1979; from The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H.)	272
	Language and Culture
	The Retreat from the Word (1961; from Language and Silence)	283
	Night Words (1965; from Language and Silence)	305
	Eros and Idiom (1975; from On Difficulty)	314
	The Distribution of Discourse (1978; from On Difficulty)	345
	Speech as Translation (1975; from After Babel)	369
	Privacies of Speech (1975; from After Babel)	385
	Creative Falsehood (1975; from After Babel)	398
	Theme and Variations (1975; from After Babel)	410
	English Tomorrow (1975; from After Babel)	420
	Future Literacies (1971; from In Bluebeard's Castle)	423