"This intriguing and thoughtful book is, and is not, Steiner's autobiography. Writing about his ideas comes more naturally to him than writing about his lived experience....His exposition of his religious agnosticism is heartfelt and moving. He write with passion about love, and ends by saying that he is unable, even in his worst hours, 'to abdicate from the belief that the two validating wonders of mortal existence are love and the invention of the future tense.' Amen". -- Victoria Glendinning, Telegraph"A profoundly beautiful autobiographical work which is all the more enlightening for its notes of humility and its deference to ideas and cultural landmarks in lieu of the customary chronicle of career and company". -- Brian Phillips, Literary ReviewGeorge Steiner, one of the great literary minds of our century, now relates the story of his own life and the ways that people, places, and events have colored the central ideas and themes of his work. His most personal book, this volume reveals Steiner's thoughts on the meaning of the western tradition and its philosophic and religious premises, his pleasure in literature and music, and his regrets about the unopened doors and untapped resources in his past.Born in Paris in 1929 of Viennese Jewish parents, raised speaking German, French, and English, educated and educator in the United States and in Europe, Steiner has crossed continents and cultures over the course of this troubled century. Interweaving episodes from his past with thoughts about the present, he recalls, for example, how his father introduced him to the Iliad in Greek shortly before his sixth birthday and then muses about the genius of Homer; describes the effectof the Holocaust on Iris family and then explores why Jews have been persecuted and have survived over the millennium; and takes stock of science, reason, atheism, and religion at the end of this century and in his own life.Incisive, provocative, and elegantly written, this book will be treasured by Steiner's many admirers and by those who are encountering him for the first time.
- ISBN10 0300075030
- ISBN13 9780300075038
- Publish Date 17 February 1998
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 7 August 2012
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Yale University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 206
- Language English