<div><b>A distinguished collection of essays on language, literature, and philosophy from acclaimed scholar and critic George Steiner<BR></b><i><BR>On Difficulty</i> is as provocative and relevant today as when its essays were first published. Ranging from critical topics such as the understanding of language to the meaning of meaning, inward speech to the relationship between erotic sensibility and linguistic convention, these eight essays posit myriad topics for exploration and dialogue. George Steiner deals with considerations that are simultaneously literary and philosophical, exploring themes of linguistic privacy and the changing technical, physiological, and social statuses of the act of reading.</div>

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On Difficulty

<div><b>A thought-provoking examination of the complex teacher-student relationship, from one of the great minds of the modern literary world</b><b><BR></b><BR>Based on George Steiner&rsquo;s extensive experience as a teacher, <i>Lessons of the Masters </i>is a passionate examination of the &ldquo;profession of the professor.&rdquo; He writes about what empowers one person to teach another, and explores the complexities and nuances of this bond. From the charismatic master to the loving disciple, Steiner explores the religious, philosophical, economic, and scientific aspects of imparting knowledge, drawing upon history&rsquo;s most famous teachers: Socrates, Jesus, Faust, Virgil, Dante, Heloise, and Abelard.</div>

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Lessons of the Masters

<div><b>A rich and evocative study of one of modern history&rsquo;s most compelling and controversial philosophers by a literary and critical grand master </b><b> <BR></b><BR>In <i>Martin Heidegger, </i>George Steiner delves into the life and work of the prolific German philosopher. His deft analysis lays bare the intricacies of Heidegger&rsquo;s work and his influence on modern society, offering a clear and accessible analysis of the philosopher&rsquo;s more difficult ideas, from the human condition and language to being and the meaning of time. Written with Steiner&rsquo;s trademark eloquence and precision, <i>Martin Heidegger</i> is the seminal look at the man and his groundbreaking ideas&mdash;the perfect study for scholars, Heidegger fanatics, and curious readers alike. </div>

Martin Heidegger

<div><b>&ldquo;A fresh, revelatory, golden eagle&rsquo;s eye-view of western literature.&rdquo;</b><b> &mdash;<i>Financial Times</i></b><BR>Early in <i>Grammars of Creation,</i> George Steiner references Plato&rsquo;s maxim that in &ldquo;all things natural and human, the origin is the most excellent.&rdquo; Creation, he argues, is linguistically fundamental in theology, philosophy, art, music, literature&mdash;central, in fact, to our very humanity. Since the Holocaust, however, art has shown a tendency to linger on endings&mdash;on sundown instead of sunrise. Asserting that every use of the future tense of the verb &ldquo;to be&rdquo; is a negation of mortality, Steiner draws on everything from world wars and the Nazis to religion and the word of God to demonstrate how our grammar reveals our perceptions, reflections, and experiences. His study shows the twentieth century to be largely a failed one, but also offers a glimpse of hope for Western civilization, a new light peeking just over the horizon.</div>

Grammars of Creation

<div><B>Renowned scholar George Steiner explores the power and presence of the unseen in art. </B><B>&ldquo;It takes someone of [his] stature to tackle this theme head-on&rdquo; (<I>The New York Times</I>).</B><BR />   There is a philosophical school of thought that believes the presence of God in art, literature, and music&mdash;in creativity in general&mdash;is a vacant metaphor, an eroded figure of speech, a ghost in humanity&rsquo;s common parlance. George Steiner posits the opposite&mdash;that any coherent understanding of language and art, any capacity to communicate meaning and feeling, is premised on God. In doing so, he argues against the kind of criticism that obscures, instead of elucidates, meaning. From the power of language to vital philosophical tenets, <I>Real Presences</I> examines the role of meaning and of the spiritual in art throughout history and across cultures.</div>

Real Presences

<div><B>&ldquo;A brilliant work . . . A dazzling meditation on the very nature of language itself&rdquo; from the world-renowned scholar and author of <I>The Poetry of Thought</I> (<I>Kirkus Reviews</I>).</B><BR /><BR /> In his classic work, literary critic and scholar George Steiner tackles what he considers the Babel &ldquo;problem&rdquo;: Why, over the course of history, have humans developed thousands of different languages when the social, material, and economic advantages of a single tongue are obvious? Steiner argues that different cultures&rsquo; desires for privacy and exclusivity led to each developing its own language. Translation, he believes, is at the very heart of human communication, and thus at the heart of human nature. From our everyday perception of the world around us, to creativity and the uninhibited imagination, to the often inexplicable poignancy of poetry, we are constantly translating&mdash;even from our native language.</div>

After Babel

<div><b>An engrossing and provocative look at the decline of tragedy in modern art<BR></b><BR>&ldquo;All men are aware of tragedy in life. But tragedy as a form of drama is not universal.&rdquo; So begins George Steiner&rsquo;s adept analysis of the demise of classic tragedy as a dramatic depiction of heroism and suffering. In <i>The Death of Tragedy</i>, Steiner examines the uniqueness and importance of the Greek classical tragedy&mdash;from antiquity to the age of Jean Racine and William Shakespeare&mdash;as providing stark insight into the grief and joy of human existence. Then, delving into the works of John Keats, Henrik Ibsen, Samuel Beckett, and many more, Steiner demonstrates how the tragic voice has greatly diminished in modern theater, and what we have lost in the process.</div>

The Death of Tragedy

<div><B>The evolution and manipulation of language from the celebrated author of <I>After Babel</I>. &ldquo;A keenly discriminating literary mind at work on what it loves&rdquo; (<I>The New York Times Book Review</I>).</B><BR /><I>Language and Silence </I>is a book about language&mdash;and politics, meaning, silence, and the future of literature. Originally published between 1958 and 1966, the essays that make up this collection ponder whether we have passed out of an era of verbal primacy and into one of post-linguistic forms&mdash;or partial silence. Steiner explores the idea of the abandonment of contemporary literary criticism, from the classics to the works of William Shakespeare, Lawrence Durell, Thomas Mann, Leon Trotsky, and more.</div>

Language and Silence

<div><B>The first book of criticism from the acclaimed author of <I>After Babel</I>&mdash;a &ldquo;provocative and probing&rdquo; look at Russian literature&rsquo;s most influential writers (<I>The New York Times</I>).</B><BR /><BR /> &ldquo;Literary criticism,&rdquo; writes Steiner, &ldquo;should arise out of a debt of love.&rdquo; Abiding by his own rule, <I>Tolstoy or Dostoevsky</I> is an impassioned work, inspired by Steiner&rsquo;s conviction that the legacies of these two Russian masters loom over Western literature. By explaining how Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky differ from each other, Steiner demonstrates that when taken together, their work offers the most complete portrayal of life and the tension between the thirst for knowledge on one hand and the longing for mystery on the other. An instant classic for scholars of Russian literature and casual readers alike, <I>Tolstoy or Dostoevsky</I> explores two powerful writers and their opposing modes of approaching the world, and the enduring legacies wrought by their works. </div>

George Steiner

Books By George Steiner (9 Books)