Steiner, George
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| − | {{Infobox Writer | + | {{Images OK}}{{Approved}}{{Copyedited}} |
| + | {{epname|Steiner, George}} | ||
| + | {{Infobox Writer | ||
| name = George Steiner | | name = George Steiner | ||
| image = | | image = | ||
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| pseudonym = | | pseudonym = | ||
| birthname = Francis George Steiner | | birthname = Francis George Steiner | ||
| − | | birthdate = {{birth date | + | | birthdate = {{birth date|1929|4|23,}} |
| birthplace = [[Paris]], [[France]] | | birthplace = [[Paris]], [[France]] | ||
| deathdate = | | deathdate = | ||
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| occupation = [[Author]], [[essayist]], [[Literary criticism|literary critic]], [[professor]] | | occupation = [[Author]], [[essayist]], [[Literary criticism|literary critic]], [[professor]] | ||
| nationality = [[France|French]], [[United States]] | | nationality = [[France|French]], [[United States]] | ||
| − | | period = | + | | period = 1960 – present |
| genre = [[Essay]], [[history]], [[literature]], [[literary fiction]] | | genre = [[Essay]], [[history]], [[literature]], [[literary fiction]] | ||
| subject = [[Language]], [[Literature]], [[The Holocaust]] | | subject = [[Language]], [[Literature]], [[The Holocaust]] | ||
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}} | }} | ||
| − | '''Francis George Steiner'''<ref> | + | '''Francis George Steiner'''<ref>[http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FGSNR The Papers of George Steiner] Janus |quote=[Steiner] has not used the name Francis since his undergraduate days. accessdate 2008-03-26</ref> (born April 23, 1929<ref name=Contem>Daniel Hahn. [http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth234 George Steiner] Contemporary Writers in the UK. accessdate 2008-03-26 </ref>), is an influential<ref>Bryan Cheyette. [http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/my-unwritten-books-by-george-steiner-776579.html My Unwritten Books by George Steiner] [[The Independent]], February 1, 2008 accessdate 2008-03-26 </ref> [[Europe|European]]-born [[United States|American]] [[literary critic]], [[essayist]], [[philosopher]], [[Novel|novelist]], [[Translation|translator]], and [[Education|educator]].<ref>Rex Murphy. [http://www.cbc.ca/checkup/rexstein.html ERRATA: An Examined Life by George Steiner] ''Canadian Broadcasting Corporation''. January 3, 1998 accessdate 2008-03-26 </ref> He has written extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, and the impact of [[The Holocaust]].<ref>[http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/jewish_social_studies/v005/5.3cheyette.html Between Repulsion and Attraction: George Steiner's Post-Holocaust Fiction |work=Jewish Social Studies] Bryan Cheyette accessdate 2008-03-26</ref> A [[Multilingualism|polyglot]] and [[polymath]], he is often credited with redefining the role of the critic.<ref name=Guardian>Maya Jaggi. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4153494,00.html George and his dragons] ''The Guardian'', March 17, 2001 accessdate 2008-03-27</ref> Steiner is ranked "among the great minds in today's literary world."<ref name=Contem/> [[England|English]] novelist [[A. S. Byatt]] described him as a "late, late, late Renaissance man … a European metaphysician with an instinct for the driving ideas of our time."<ref name=Guardian/> Harriet Harvey-Wood, a former literature director of the [[British Council]], called him a "magnificent lecturer–prophetic and doom-laden [who would] turn up with half a page of scribbled notes, and never refer to them."<ref name=Guardian/> |
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| − | Steiner is ranked "among the great minds in today's literary world."<ref name=Contem/> [[England|English]] novelist [[A. S. Byatt]] described him as a "late, late, late Renaissance man | ||
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| + | Steiner is [[Professor emeritus#Professor emeritus|Professor Emeritus]] of [[English language|English]] and [[comparative literature|Comparative Literature]] at the [[University of Geneva]] (1974-1994), Professor of Comparative Literature and Fellow at the [[University of Oxford]] (1994-1995) and Professor of [[Poetry]] at [[Harvard University]] (2001-2002).<ref name=Janus>[http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FGSNR The Papers of George Steiner] Janus. accessdate 2008-03-26</ref> | ||
| + | {{toc}} | ||
He lives in [[Cambridge]], [[England]], where he has been Extraordinary Fellow at [[Churchill College, Cambridge|Churchill College]] at the [[University of Cambridge]] since 1969. He is married to author and historian Zara Shakow, and they have a son, David Steiner (Dean of the School of Education at [[Hunter College]]) and a daughter, Deborah Steiner (Professor of Classics at [[Columbia University]]).<ref name=Janus/> | He lives in [[Cambridge]], [[England]], where he has been Extraordinary Fellow at [[Churchill College, Cambridge|Churchill College]] at the [[University of Cambridge]] since 1969. He is married to author and historian Zara Shakow, and they have a son, David Steiner (Dean of the School of Education at [[Hunter College]]) and a daughter, Deborah Steiner (Professor of Classics at [[Columbia University]]).<ref name=Janus/> | ||
==Biography== | ==Biography== | ||
===Education=== | ===Education=== | ||
| − | George Steiner was born in 1929 in [[Paris]], [[France]] to [[Jew|Jewish]] [[Vienna|Viennese]] parents Dr Frederick George Steiner and Mrs Else Steiner ([[Married and maiden names|née]] Franzos). He has an older sister, Ruth Lilian, who was born in Vienna in 1922.<ref> | + | George Steiner was born in 1929 in [[Paris]], [[France]] to [[Jew|Jewish]] [[Vienna|Viennese]] parents Dr. Frederick George Steiner and Mrs. Else Steiner ([[Married and maiden names|née]] Franzos). He has an older sister, Ruth Lilian, who was born in Vienna in 1922.<ref>[http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FSTNR The Papers of Frederick George Steiner] ''Janus'' accessdate 2008-03-26</ref> Frederick Steiner was a senior lawyer in the [[Austria|Austrian]] [[Central bank|Central Bank]] and Else Steiner was a Viennese [[grande dame]].<ref>George Steiner [http://tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25341-2501658,00.html Büchner lives on] ''The Times Literary Supplement'', December 13, 2006 accessdate 2008-03-27</ref> Five years earlier Steiner's father had moved his family from Austria to France to escape the growing threat of [[Nazism]] there. He believed that Jews were "endangered guests wherever they went"<ref name=Guardian/> and equipped his children with languages. Steiner grew up with three [[First language|mother tongues]], [[German language|German]], [[English language|English]] and [[French language|French]]; his mother was [[Multilingualism|multilingual]] and would often "begin a sentence in one language and end it in another."<ref name=Guardian/> At the age of six years, his father, who believed in a good [[Classics|classical education]], taught him to read [[Homer]]'s [[epic poetry|epic poem]], the ''[[Iliad]],'' in the original [[Greek language|Greek]].<ref>Kenneth Baker.[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/04/12/RV12026.DTL Steiner's Memoir a Sketchy Mix of Reminiscence and Complaint] ''San Francisco Chronicle'', April 12, 1998 accessdate 2008-03-27</ref><ref>[http://magazine.uchicago.edu/9806/html/books.htm Errata: An Examined Life] ''University of Chicago Magazine'' |accessdate 2008-03-27</ref><ref name=Guardian/> His mother, for whom "self-pity was nauseating",<ref name=Guardian/> helped Steiner overcome a [[Disability|handicap]] he had been born with, a withered right arm. Instead of becoming left-handed she insisted he use his right hand as an able-bodied person would.<ref name=Guardian/> |
| − | Steiner's first formal education took place at the [[Lycée Janson de Sailly|Lycée Janson-de-Sailly]] in Paris. In 1940, during [[World War II]], Steiner's father once again relocated his family, this time to [[New York City]]. Within a month of their move, the Nazis occupied Paris, and of the many Jewish children in Steiner's class at school, he was only one of two who survived the war.<ref name=Guardian/> Again his father's insight had saved his family, and this made Steiner feel like a survivor, which profoundly influenced his later writings. "My whole life has been about death, remembering and the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]]."<ref name=Guardian/> Steiner became a "grateful wanderer" | + | Steiner's first formal education took place at the [[Lycée Janson de Sailly|Lycée Janson-de-Sailly]] in Paris. In 1940, during [[World War II]], Steiner's father once again relocated his family, this time to [[New York City]]. Within a month of their move, the Nazis occupied Paris, and of the many Jewish children in Steiner's class at school, he was only one of two who survived the war.<ref name=Guardian/> Again his father's insight had saved his family, and this made Steiner feel like a survivor, which profoundly influenced his later writings. "My whole life has been about death, remembering and the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]]."<ref name=Guardian/> Steiner became a "grateful wanderer," saying that "Trees have roots and I have legs; I owe my life to that."<ref name=Guardian/> He spent the rest of his school years at the [[Lycée Français de New York]] in [[Manhattan]], becoming a [[United States]] citizen in 1944. |
| − | After school Steiner went to the [[University of Chicago]] where he studied literature as well as mathematics and physics, obtaining a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] degree in 1948, and later a [[Master of Arts (postgraduate)|MA]] degree from [[Harvard University]] in 1950. He then attended [[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol College]] at the [[University of Oxford]] in [[England]] on a [[Rhodes Scholarship]]. After his [[Doctorate|doctoral]] [[Dissertation|thesis]] at Oxford, a draft of ''The Death of Tragedy'' (later published by [[Faber and Faber]]) was initially rejected, Steiner took time off from his studies to work as [[leader writer]] for the [[London]] based weekly publication, ''[[The Economist]]'' between 1952 and 1956. It was during this time that he met [[Zara Shakow]], a [[New York|New Yorker]] of [[Lithuania]]n descent. She had also studied at Harvard and they met in London at the suggestion of their former professors. "The professors had had a | + | After school Steiner went to the [[University of Chicago]] where he studied literature as well as mathematics and physics, obtaining a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] degree in 1948, and later a [[Master of Arts (postgraduate)|MA]] degree from [[Harvard University]] in 1950. He then attended [[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol College]] at the [[University of Oxford]] in [[England]] on a [[Rhodes Scholarship]]. After his [[Doctorate|doctoral]] [[Dissertation|thesis]] at Oxford, a draft of ''The Death of Tragedy'' (later published by [[Faber and Faber]]) was initially rejected, Steiner took time off from his studies to work as [[leader writer]] for the [[London]] based weekly publication, ''[[The Economist]]'' between 1952 and 1956. It was during this time that he met [[Zara Shakow]], a [[New York|New Yorker]] of [[Lithuania]]n descent. She had also studied at Harvard and they met in London at the suggestion of their former professors. "The professors had had a bet… that we would get married if we ever met."<ref>Jason Cowley. [http://www.jasoncowley.net/interviews/I19970922_T.html A traveler in the realm of the mind] ''The Times'', September 22, 1997 accessdate 2008-03-27</ref> They later married in 1955, the year he received his [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] from Oxford University.<ref name=Guardian/> |
===Career=== | ===Career=== | ||
| − | In 1956 Steiner returned to the United States where for two years he was a scholar at the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] at [[Princeton University]]. He was appointed Gauss Lecturer at Princeton in 1959 where he lectured for another two years. He also held a Fulbright professorship in [[Innsbruck]], Austria from 1958 to 1959. He then became a founding [[Research Fellow|fellow]] of [[Churchill College, Cambridge|Churchill College]] at the [[University of Cambridge]] in 1961. Steiner was initially not well received at Cambridge by the English faculty. Many disapproved of this charismatic "firebrand with a foreign accent,"<ref name=Guardian/> questioned the relevance of his constant references to the Holocaust in his lectures. Bryan Cheyette, professor of | + | In 1956 Steiner returned to the United States where for two years he was a scholar at the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] at [[Princeton University]]. He was appointed Gauss Lecturer at Princeton in 1959 where he lectured for another two years. He also held a Fulbright professorship in [[Innsbruck]], Austria from 1958 to 1959. He then became a founding [[Research Fellow|fellow]] of [[Churchill College, Cambridge|Churchill College]] at the [[University of Cambridge]] in 1961. Steiner was initially not well received at Cambridge by the English faculty. Many disapproved of this charismatic "firebrand with a foreign accent,"<ref name=Guardian/> questioned the relevance of his constant references to the Holocaust in his lectures. Bryan Cheyette, professor of twentieth-century literature at the [[University of Southampton]] said that at the time, "Britain […] didn't think it had a relationship to the Holocaust; its mythology of the war was rooted in the [[The Blitz|Blitz]], [[Dunkirk evacuation|Dunkirk]], the [[Battle of Britain]]."<ref name=Guardian/> While Steiner received a professorial salary, he was never made a full professor at Cambridge with the right to examine. He had the option of leaving for professorships in the United States, but Steiner's father objected, saying that [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]], who said no one bearing their name would be left in Europe, would then have won. Steiner remained in England because "I'd do anything rather than face such contempt from my father."<ref name=Guardian/> He was elected an Extraordinary Fellow at Cambridge in 1969. |
After several years as a freelance writer and occasional lecturer, Steiner accepted the post of Professor of English and [[comparative literature|Comparative Literature]] at the [[University of Geneva]] in 1974, which he held for 20 years, teaching in four languages. He lived by [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]]'s maxim that "no [[Monolingualism|monoglot]] truly knows his own language."<ref name=Guardian/> He became Professor Emeritus at Geneva University on his retirement in 1994, and an Honorary Fellow at Balliol College at [[Oxford University]] in 1995. He has since held the positions of the first Lord Weidenfeld Professor of Comparative Literature and Fellow of [[St Anne's College, Oxford|St Anne's College]] at Oxford University from 1994 to 1995, and Norton Professor of Poetry at [[Harvard University]] from 2001 to 2002. | After several years as a freelance writer and occasional lecturer, Steiner accepted the post of Professor of English and [[comparative literature|Comparative Literature]] at the [[University of Geneva]] in 1974, which he held for 20 years, teaching in four languages. He lived by [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]]'s maxim that "no [[Monolingualism|monoglot]] truly knows his own language."<ref name=Guardian/> He became Professor Emeritus at Geneva University on his retirement in 1994, and an Honorary Fellow at Balliol College at [[Oxford University]] in 1995. He has since held the positions of the first Lord Weidenfeld Professor of Comparative Literature and Fellow of [[St Anne's College, Oxford|St Anne's College]] at Oxford University from 1994 to 1995, and Norton Professor of Poetry at [[Harvard University]] from 2001 to 2002. | ||
| − | Steiner is best known as an intelligent and intellectual critic and essayist.<ref name=Contem/> He was active on undergraduate publications while at Chicago University and later become a regular contributor of reviews and articles to many journals and newspapers including the '' | + | Steiner is best known as an intelligent and intellectual critic and essayist.<ref name=Contem/> He was active on undergraduate publications while at Chicago University and later become a regular contributor of reviews and articles to many journals and newspapers including the ''Times Literary Supplement'' and ''The Guardian.'' He has written for ''[[The New Yorker]]'' for over 30 years, contributing over two hundred reviews.<ref name=NALD> Grammars of Creation ''National Adult Literacy Database''.</ref> |
| − | While Steiner's work and demeanor are serious, it belies an unexpected [[deadpan]] sense of humor; when asked once if he had ever read anything trivial as a child, he replied, ''[[Moby-Dick]]'' | + | While Steiner's work and demeanor are serious, it belies an unexpected [[deadpan]] sense of humor; when asked once if he had ever read anything trivial as a child, he replied, ''[[Moby-Dick]].''<ref name=Guardian/> |
==Views== | ==Views== | ||
| − | George Steiner is regarded as a [[polymath]] and often credited with recasting the role of the critic by exploring art and thought unbounded by national frontiers or academic disciplines. He advocates | + | George Steiner is regarded as a [[polymath]] and often credited with recasting the role of the critic by exploring art and thought unbounded by national frontiers or academic disciplines. He advocates generalization over specialization, insisting that a literate person must encompass knowledge of both arts and sciences. Steiner, who is [[Jew|Jewish]], rejects [[Jewish political movements|Jewish nationalism]] and is a critic of [[Israel]]'s treatment of the [[Palestinian people|Palestinians]].<ref name=Guardian/> |
Central to Steiner's thinking, he has stated, "is my astonishment, naïve as it seems to people, that you can use human speech both to love, to build, to forgive, and also to torture, to hate, to destroy and to annihilate."<ref name=NALD/> | Central to Steiner's thinking, he has stated, "is my astonishment, naïve as it seems to people, that you can use human speech both to love, to build, to forgive, and also to torture, to hate, to destroy and to annihilate."<ref name=NALD/> | ||
==Works== | ==Works== | ||
| − | George Steiner's career spans half a century and he has published ground-breaking essays and books that address the anomalies of contemporary [[Western culture]], issues of language and its "debasement" in the post-[[The Holocaust|Holocaust]] age.<ref name=Stanford> | + | George Steiner's career spans half a century and he has published ground-breaking essays and books that address the anomalies of contemporary [[Western culture]], issues of language and its "debasement" in the post-[[The Holocaust|Holocaust]] age.<ref name=Stanford>[http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/1998/december9/capote129.html Literary Critic George Steiner wins Truman Capote Award] ''Stanford Online Report'' accessdate 2008-03-26 </ref><ref name=Guardian/> His field is primarily [[comparative literature]] and his work as a critic has tended toward exploring cultural and philosophical issues, particularly dealing with translation and the nature of language and literature. |
| − | Steiner's first published book was ''Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: An Essay in Contrast'' (1960), which was a study of the different ideas and ideologies of the [[Russia|Russian]] writers [[Leo Tolstoy]] and [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]]. ''The Death of Tragedy'' (1961) originated as his [[Doctorate|doctoral]] [[Dissertation|thesis]] at the [[University of Oxford]] and examined literature from the [[ancient Greek]]s to the mid- | + | Steiner's first published book was ''Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: An Essay in Contrast'' (1960), which was a study of the different ideas and ideologies of the [[Russia|Russian]] writers [[Leo Tolstoy]] and [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]]. ''The Death of Tragedy'' (1961) originated as his [[Doctorate|doctoral]] [[Dissertation|thesis]] at the [[University of Oxford]] and examined literature from the [[ancient Greek]]s to the mid-twentieth century. His best-known book, ''[[After Babel]]'' (1975), was an early and influential contribution to the field of [[translation studies]]. It was adapted for television in 1977 as ''The Tongues of Men'' and was the inspiration behind the creation in 1983 of the [[England|English]] [[avant-garde]] [[Rock music|rock]] [[Musical ensemble|group]] [[News from Babel]]. |
| − | Several works of [[literary fiction]] by Steiner include three [[Short story|short story collections]], ''Anno Domini: Three Stories'' (1964), ''Proofs and Three Parables'' (1992) and ''The Deeps of the Sea'' (1996), and his controversial<ref> | + | Several works of [[literary fiction]] by Steiner include three [[Short story|short story collections]], ''Anno Domini: Three Stories'' (1964), ''Proofs and Three Parables'' (1992) and ''The Deeps of the Sea'' (1996), and his controversial<ref>Ron Rosenbaum.[http://www.observer.com/node/45740 Mirroring Evil? No, Mirroring Art Theory] 2002-03-17 ''The New York Observer'' accessdate 2008-02-28</ref> [[novella]], ''[[The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H.]]'' (1981). ''Portage to San Cristobal,'' in which [[Jew|Jewish]] [[Nazi hunters]] find [[Adolf Hitler]] (A.H.) alive in the [[Amazon Rainforest|Amazon jungle]] 30 years after the end of [[World War II]], explored ideas on the origins of European [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitism]] first expounded by him in his 1971 critical work ''In Bluebeard's Castle.'' Steiner has suggested that Nazism was Europe's revenge on the Jews for inventing [[conscience]].<ref name=Guardian/> Cheyette sees Steiner's fiction as "an exploratory space where he can think against himself." It "contrasts its humility and openness with his increasingly closed and orthodox critical work." Central to it is the survivor's "terrible, masochistic envy about not being there–having missed the rendezvous with hell".<ref name=Guardian/> |
''No Passion Spent'' (1996) is a collection of essays on topics as diverse as [[Søren Kierkegaard|Kierkegaard]], [[Homer]] in translation, [[Bible|Biblical]] texts and [[Sigmund Freud|Freud]]'s [[Dream interpretation|dream theory]]. ''Errata: An Examined Life'' (1997) is a semi-autobiography<ref name=Contem/> and ''Grammars of Creation'' (2001), based on Steiner's 1990 Gifford lectures, explores a range of subjects from [[cosmology]] to [[poetry]]. | ''No Passion Spent'' (1996) is a collection of essays on topics as diverse as [[Søren Kierkegaard|Kierkegaard]], [[Homer]] in translation, [[Bible|Biblical]] texts and [[Sigmund Freud|Freud]]'s [[Dream interpretation|dream theory]]. ''Errata: An Examined Life'' (1997) is a semi-autobiography<ref name=Contem/> and ''Grammars of Creation'' (2001), based on Steiner's 1990 Gifford lectures, explores a range of subjects from [[cosmology]] to [[poetry]]. | ||
| − | ==Awards and honors== | + | ==Legacy== |
| + | George Steiner helped to create the modern academic profession of literary critic. He left an indelible influence on the entire field. His concern with the relationship between literature and the horrors of modern life, especially the [[Holocaust]] did not leave any particular school in its wake, but by strength of his talent, he served as a model for many professional critics. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Awards and honors=== | ||
George Steiner has received many honors, including: | George Steiner has received many honors, including: | ||
*A [[Rhodes Scholarship]] (1950) | *A [[Rhodes Scholarship]] (1950) | ||
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*An honorary fellow of [[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol College]] at the [[University of Oxford]] (1995) | *An honorary fellow of [[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol College]] at the [[University of Oxford]] (1995) | ||
*The [[Truman Capote]] Lifetime Achievement Award by [[Stanford University]] (1998)<ref name=Stanford/> | *The [[Truman Capote]] Lifetime Achievement Award by [[Stanford University]] (1998)<ref name=Stanford/> | ||
| − | *The [[Prince of Asturias Awards|Prince of Asturias Award]] for Communication and Humanities (2001)<ref> | + | *The [[Prince of Asturias Awards|Prince of Asturias Award]] for Communication and Humanities (2001)<ref>[http://www.fundacionprincipedeasturias.org/ing/04/premiados/trayectorias/trayectoria746.html George Steiner] ''Prince of Asturias Awards'' accessdate 2008-04-08</ref> |
*Fellowship of the [[British Academy]] | *Fellowship of the [[British Academy]] | ||
*[[Honorary degree|Honorary]] [[Doctor of Letters|Doctorate]] of Literature degrees from: | *[[Honorary degree|Honorary]] [[Doctor of Letters|Doctorate]] of Literature degrees from: | ||
| Line 91: | Line 94: | ||
He has also won numerous awards for his fiction and poetry, including: | He has also won numerous awards for his fiction and poetry, including: | ||
| − | *Remembrance Award (1974) for ''Language and Silence: Essays 1958-1966'' | + | *Remembrance Award (1974) for ''Language and Silence: Essays 1958-1966.'' |
*PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award (1992) for ''Proofs and Three Parables''.<ref name=Contem/> | *PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award (1992) for ''Proofs and Three Parables''.<ref name=Contem/> | ||
| − | *PEN/Macmillan Fiction Prize (1993) for ''Proofs and Three Parables'' | + | *PEN/Macmillan Fiction Prize (1993) for ''Proofs and Three Parables.''<ref name=Contem/> |
| − | *Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize for Non-Fiction (joint winner with Louise Kehoe and Silvia Rodgers) (1997) for ''No Passion Spent'' | + | *Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize for Non-Fiction (joint winner with Louise Kehoe and Silvia Rodgers) (1997) for ''No Passion Spent.'' |
==Bibliography== | ==Bibliography== | ||
| − | |||
*''Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: An Essay in Contrast'', Faber and Faber, 1960 | *''Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: An Essay in Contrast'', Faber and Faber, 1960 | ||
*''The Death of Tragedy'', Faber and Faber, 1961 | *''The Death of Tragedy'', Faber and Faber, 1961 | ||
| Line 108: | Line 110: | ||
*''[[After Babel|After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation]]'', Oxford University Press, 1975 | *''[[After Babel|After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation]]'', Oxford University Press, 1975 | ||
*''Why English?'', Oxford University Press, 1975 | *''Why English?'', Oxford University Press, 1975 | ||
| − | *''Has Truth a Future?'', BBC, | + | *''Has Truth a Future?'', BBC, 1978—The Bronowski Memorial Lecture 1978 |
*''Heidegger'', Harvester Press, 1978 | *''Heidegger'', Harvester Press, 1978 | ||
*''On Difficulty and Other Essays'', Oxford University Press, 1978 | *''On Difficulty and Other Essays'', Oxford University Press, 1978 | ||
| Line 117: | Line 119: | ||
*''Real Presences: Is There Anything in What We Say?'', Faber and Faber, 1989 | *''Real Presences: Is There Anything in What We Say?'', Faber and Faber, 1989 | ||
*''Proofs and Three Parables'', Faber and Faber, 1992 | *''Proofs and Three Parables'', Faber and Faber, 1992 | ||
| − | *''What is Comparative Literature?'', Clarendon Press, | + | *''What is Comparative Literature?'', Clarendon Press, 1995—an inaugural lecture before the University of Oxford, UK on October 11, 1994 |
*''Homer in English'', Penguin, 1996 (Editor) | *''Homer in English'', Penguin, 1996 (Editor) | ||
*''No Passion Spent: Essays 1978-1996'', Faber and Faber, 1996 | *''No Passion Spent: Essays 1978-1996'', Faber and Faber, 1996 | ||
| Line 128: | Line 130: | ||
*''My Unwritten Books'', New Directions, 2008 | *''My Unwritten Books'', New Directions, 2008 | ||
| + | ==Notes== | ||
| + | {{reflist}} | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
| − | * | + | * Condren, Averil. ''Papers of George Steiner.'' Churchill Archives Centre, 2001 |
| − | *The Harvard Gazette (27. | + | *The Harvard Gazette (September 27, 2001) |
| − | {{ | + | *Scott, Nathan A. and Ronald A. Sharp, (eds.). ''Reading George Steiner.'' Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. ISBN 978-0801848322 |
| + | *Steiner, George. ''Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: an essay in the old criticism.'' Knopf Press, 1959. {{OCLC|174027}} | ||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
| − | + | All links retrieved June 16, 2017. | |
| − | *[http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4153494,00.html George and his dragons]. ''[[The Guardian]]'' | + | |
| − | + | *[http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4153494,00.html George and his dragons]. ''[[The Guardian]]'' | |
| − | + | ||
| − | |||
*[http://www.azure.org.il/download/magazine/1147az15_Sagiv.pdf "George Steiner’s Jewish Problem"]. ''Azure: Ideas for the Jewish Nation''. | *[http://www.azure.org.il/download/magazine/1147az15_Sagiv.pdf "George Steiner’s Jewish Problem"]. ''Azure: Ideas for the Jewish Nation''. | ||
*[http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/george_steiner.html George Steiner] at BrainyQuote.com. | *[http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/george_steiner.html George Steiner] at BrainyQuote.com. | ||
*[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0825934/ George Steiner] at the [[Internet Movie Database]]. | *[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0825934/ George Steiner] at the [[Internet Movie Database]]. | ||
| − | |||
*[http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/george-steiner/ George Steiner bibliography]. ''Fantastic Fiction''. | *[http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/george-steiner/ George Steiner bibliography]. ''Fantastic Fiction''. | ||
| + | [[Category:Living people]] | ||
[[category:Art, music, literature, sports and leisure]] | [[category:Art, music, literature, sports and leisure]] | ||
| + | [[category:Writers and poets]] | ||
| + | [[category:Biography]] | ||
| + | [[category:Image wanted]] | ||
{{credits|213208101}} | {{credits|213208101}} | ||
Latest revision as of 08:15, 23 January 2023
| George Steiner | |
|---|---|
| Born | Francis George Steiner April 23, 1929 Paris, France |
| Occupation | Author, essayist, literary critic, professor |
| Nationality | French, United States |
| Writing period | 1960 – present |
| Genres | Essay, history, literature, literary fiction |
| Subjects | Language, Literature, The Holocaust |
| Notable work(s) | After Babel (1975) |
| Notable award(s) | The Truman Capote Lifetime Achievement Award (1998) |
| Spouse(s) | Zara Shakow |
| Children | David, Deborah |
Francis George Steiner[1] (born April 23, 1929[2]), is an influential[3] European-born American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, translator, and educator.[4] He has written extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, and the impact of The Holocaust.[5] A polyglot and polymath, he is often credited with redefining the role of the critic.[6] Steiner is ranked "among the great minds in today's literary world."[2] English novelist A. S. Byatt described him as a "late, late, late Renaissance man … a European metaphysician with an instinct for the driving ideas of our time."[6] Harriet Harvey-Wood, a former literature director of the British Council, called him a "magnificent lecturer–prophetic and doom-laden [who would] turn up with half a page of scribbled notes, and never refer to them."[6]
Steiner is Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Geneva (1974-1994), Professor of Comparative Literature and Fellow at the University of Oxford (1994-1995) and Professor of Poetry at Harvard University (2001-2002).[7]
He lives in Cambridge, England, where he has been Extraordinary Fellow at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge since 1969. He is married to author and historian Zara Shakow, and they have a son, David Steiner (Dean of the School of Education at Hunter College) and a daughter, Deborah Steiner (Professor of Classics at Columbia University).[7]
Biography
Education
George Steiner was born in 1929 in Paris, France to Jewish Viennese parents Dr. Frederick George Steiner and Mrs. Else Steiner (née Franzos). He has an older sister, Ruth Lilian, who was born in Vienna in 1922.[8] Frederick Steiner was a senior lawyer in the Austrian Central Bank and Else Steiner was a Viennese grande dame.[9] Five years earlier Steiner's father had moved his family from Austria to France to escape the growing threat of Nazism there. He believed that Jews were "endangered guests wherever they went"[6] and equipped his children with languages. Steiner grew up with three mother tongues, German, English and French; his mother was multilingual and would often "begin a sentence in one language and end it in another."[6] At the age of six years, his father, who believed in a good classical education, taught him to read Homer's epic poem, the Iliad, in the original Greek.[10][11][6] His mother, for whom "self-pity was nauseating",[6] helped Steiner overcome a handicap he had been born with, a withered right arm. Instead of becoming left-handed she insisted he use his right hand as an able-bodied person would.[6]
Steiner's first formal education took place at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly in Paris. In 1940, during World War II, Steiner's father once again relocated his family, this time to New York City. Within a month of their move, the Nazis occupied Paris, and of the many Jewish children in Steiner's class at school, he was only one of two who survived the war.[6] Again his father's insight had saved his family, and this made Steiner feel like a survivor, which profoundly influenced his later writings. "My whole life has been about death, remembering and the Holocaust."[6] Steiner became a "grateful wanderer," saying that "Trees have roots and I have legs; I owe my life to that."[6] He spent the rest of his school years at the Lycée Français de New York in Manhattan, becoming a United States citizen in 1944.
After school Steiner went to the University of Chicago where he studied literature as well as mathematics and physics, obtaining a BA degree in 1948, and later a MA degree from Harvard University in 1950. He then attended Balliol College at the University of Oxford in England on a Rhodes Scholarship. After his doctoral thesis at Oxford, a draft of The Death of Tragedy (later published by Faber and Faber) was initially rejected, Steiner took time off from his studies to work as leader writer for the London based weekly publication, The Economist between 1952 and 1956. It was during this time that he met Zara Shakow, a New Yorker of Lithuanian descent. She had also studied at Harvard and they met in London at the suggestion of their former professors. "The professors had had a bet… that we would get married if we ever met."[12] They later married in 1955, the year he received his PhD from Oxford University.[6]
Career
In 1956 Steiner returned to the United States where for two years he was a scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. He was appointed Gauss Lecturer at Princeton in 1959 where he lectured for another two years. He also held a Fulbright professorship in Innsbruck, Austria from 1958 to 1959. He then became a founding fellow of Churchill College at the University of Cambridge in 1961. Steiner was initially not well received at Cambridge by the English faculty. Many disapproved of this charismatic "firebrand with a foreign accent,"[6] questioned the relevance of his constant references to the Holocaust in his lectures. Bryan Cheyette, professor of twentieth-century literature at the University of Southampton said that at the time, "Britain […] didn't think it had a relationship to the Holocaust; its mythology of the war was rooted in the Blitz, Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain."[6] While Steiner received a professorial salary, he was never made a full professor at Cambridge with the right to examine. He had the option of leaving for professorships in the United States, but Steiner's father objected, saying that Hitler, who said no one bearing their name would be left in Europe, would then have won. Steiner remained in England because "I'd do anything rather than face such contempt from my father."[6] He was elected an Extraordinary Fellow at Cambridge in 1969.
After several years as a freelance writer and occasional lecturer, Steiner accepted the post of Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Geneva in 1974, which he held for 20 years, teaching in four languages. He lived by Goethe's maxim that "no monoglot truly knows his own language."[6] He became Professor Emeritus at Geneva University on his retirement in 1994, and an Honorary Fellow at Balliol College at Oxford University in 1995. He has since held the positions of the first Lord Weidenfeld Professor of Comparative Literature and Fellow of St Anne's College at Oxford University from 1994 to 1995, and Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University from 2001 to 2002.
Steiner is best known as an intelligent and intellectual critic and essayist.[2] He was active on undergraduate publications while at Chicago University and later become a regular contributor of reviews and articles to many journals and newspapers including the Times Literary Supplement and The Guardian. He has written for The New Yorker for over 30 years, contributing over two hundred reviews.[13]
While Steiner's work and demeanor are serious, it belies an unexpected deadpan sense of humor; when asked once if he had ever read anything trivial as a child, he replied, Moby-Dick.[6]
Views
George Steiner is regarded as a polymath and often credited with recasting the role of the critic by exploring art and thought unbounded by national frontiers or academic disciplines. He advocates generalization over specialization, insisting that a literate person must encompass knowledge of both arts and sciences. Steiner, who is Jewish, rejects Jewish nationalism and is a critic of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.[6]
Central to Steiner's thinking, he has stated, "is my astonishment, naïve as it seems to people, that you can use human speech both to love, to build, to forgive, and also to torture, to hate, to destroy and to annihilate."[13]
Works
George Steiner's career spans half a century and he has published ground-breaking essays and books that address the anomalies of contemporary Western culture, issues of language and its "debasement" in the post-Holocaust age.[14][6] His field is primarily comparative literature and his work as a critic has tended toward exploring cultural and philosophical issues, particularly dealing with translation and the nature of language and literature.
Steiner's first published book was Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: An Essay in Contrast (1960), which was a study of the different ideas and ideologies of the Russian writers Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky. The Death of Tragedy (1961) originated as his doctoral thesis at the University of Oxford and examined literature from the ancient Greeks to the mid-twentieth century. His best-known book, After Babel (1975), was an early and influential contribution to the field of translation studies. It was adapted for television in 1977 as The Tongues of Men and was the inspiration behind the creation in 1983 of the English avant-garde rock group News from Babel.
Several works of literary fiction by Steiner include three short story collections, Anno Domini: Three Stories (1964), Proofs and Three Parables (1992) and The Deeps of the Sea (1996), and his controversial[15] novella, The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. (1981). Portage to San Cristobal, in which Jewish Nazi hunters find Adolf Hitler (A.H.) alive in the Amazon jungle 30 years after the end of World War II, explored ideas on the origins of European anti-Semitism first expounded by him in his 1971 critical work In Bluebeard's Castle. Steiner has suggested that Nazism was Europe's revenge on the Jews for inventing conscience.[6] Cheyette sees Steiner's fiction as "an exploratory space where he can think against himself." It "contrasts its humility and openness with his increasingly closed and orthodox critical work." Central to it is the survivor's "terrible, masochistic envy about not being there–having missed the rendezvous with hell".[6]
No Passion Spent (1996) is a collection of essays on topics as diverse as Kierkegaard, Homer in translation, Biblical texts and Freud's dream theory. Errata: An Examined Life (1997) is a semi-autobiography[2] and Grammars of Creation (2001), based on Steiner's 1990 Gifford lectures, explores a range of subjects from cosmology to poetry.
Legacy
George Steiner helped to create the modern academic profession of literary critic. He left an indelible influence on the entire field. His concern with the relationship between literature and the horrors of modern life, especially the Holocaust did not leave any particular school in its wake, but by strength of his talent, he served as a model for many professional critics.
Awards and honors
George Steiner has received many honors, including:
- A Rhodes Scholarship (1950)
- A Guggenheim Fellowship (1971-72)
- Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by the French Government (1984)
- The Morton Dauwen Zaubel Prize from The American Academy of Arts and Letters (1989)
- The King Albert Medal by the Belgian Academy Council of Applied Sciences
- An honorary fellow of Balliol College at the University of Oxford (1995)
- The Truman Capote Lifetime Achievement Award by Stanford University (1998)[14]
- The Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities (2001)[16]
- Fellowship of the British Academy
- Honorary Doctorate of Literature degrees from:
- University of East Anglia (1976)
- University of Leuven (1980)
- Mount Holyoke College (1983)
- Bristol University (1989)
- University of Glasgow (1990)
- University of Liège (1990)
- University of Ulster (1993)
- Durham University (1995)
- Queen Mary, University of London (2006)
- Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna (2006)
He has also won numerous awards for his fiction and poetry, including:
- Remembrance Award (1974) for Language and Silence: Essays 1958-1966.
- PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award (1992) for Proofs and Three Parables.[2]
- PEN/Macmillan Fiction Prize (1993) for Proofs and Three Parables.[2]
- Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize for Non-Fiction (joint winner with Louise Kehoe and Silvia Rodgers) (1997) for No Passion Spent.
Bibliography
- Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: An Essay in Contrast, Faber and Faber, 1960
- The Death of Tragedy, Faber and Faber, 1961
- Anno Domini: Three Stories, Faber and Faber, 1964
- The Penguin Book of Modern Verse Translation, Penguin, 1966
- Language and Silence: Essays 1958-1966, Faber and Faber, 1967
- In Bluebeard's Castle: Some Notes Towards the Redefinition of Culture, Faber and Faber, 1971
- Extraterritorial: Papers on Literature and the Language Revolution, Faber and Faber, 1972
- The Sporting Scene: White Knights of Reykjavik, Faber and Faber, 1973
- After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation, Oxford University Press, 1975
- Why English?, Oxford University Press, 1975
- Has Truth a Future?, BBC, 1978—The Bronowski Memorial Lecture 1978
- Heidegger, Harvester Press, 1978
- On Difficulty and Other Essays, Oxford University Press, 1978
- The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H., Faber and Faber, 1981
- Antigones, Clarendon Press, 1984
- George Steiner: A Reader, Penguin, 1984
- A Reading Against Shakespeare, University of Glasgow, 1986
- Real Presences: Is There Anything in What We Say?, Faber and Faber, 1989
- Proofs and Three Parables, Faber and Faber, 1992
- What is Comparative Literature?, Clarendon Press, 1995—an inaugural lecture before the University of Oxford, UK on October 11, 1994
- Homer in English, Penguin, 1996 (Editor)
- No Passion Spent: Essays 1978-1996, Faber and Faber, 1996
- The Deeps of the Sea, and Other Fiction, Faber and Faber, 1996
- Errata: An Examined Life, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1997
- Grammars of Creation, Faber and Faber, 2001
- Lessons of the Masters, Harvard University Press, 2003
- Nostalgia for the Absolute, House of Anansi Press, 2004
- The Idea of Europe, Nexus Institute, 2005
- My Unwritten Books, New Directions, 2008
Notes
- ↑ The Papers of George Steiner Janus |quote=[Steiner] has not used the name Francis since his undergraduate days. accessdate 2008-03-26
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Daniel Hahn. George Steiner Contemporary Writers in the UK. accessdate 2008-03-26
- ↑ Bryan Cheyette. My Unwritten Books by George Steiner The Independent, February 1, 2008 accessdate 2008-03-26
- ↑ Rex Murphy. ERRATA: An Examined Life by George Steiner Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. January 3, 1998 accessdate 2008-03-26
- ↑ Between Repulsion and Attraction: George Steiner's Post-Holocaust Fiction |work=Jewish Social Studies Bryan Cheyette accessdate 2008-03-26
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 Maya Jaggi. George and his dragons The Guardian, March 17, 2001 accessdate 2008-03-27
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Papers of George Steiner Janus. accessdate 2008-03-26
- ↑ The Papers of Frederick George Steiner Janus accessdate 2008-03-26
- ↑ George Steiner Büchner lives on The Times Literary Supplement, December 13, 2006 accessdate 2008-03-27
- ↑ Kenneth Baker.Steiner's Memoir a Sketchy Mix of Reminiscence and Complaint San Francisco Chronicle, April 12, 1998 accessdate 2008-03-27
- ↑ Errata: An Examined Life University of Chicago Magazine |accessdate 2008-03-27
- ↑ Jason Cowley. A traveler in the realm of the mind The Times, September 22, 1997 accessdate 2008-03-27
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Grammars of Creation National Adult Literacy Database.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Literary Critic George Steiner wins Truman Capote Award Stanford Online Report accessdate 2008-03-26
- ↑ Ron Rosenbaum.Mirroring Evil? No, Mirroring Art Theory 2002-03-17 The New York Observer accessdate 2008-02-28
- ↑ George Steiner Prince of Asturias Awards accessdate 2008-04-08
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Condren, Averil. Papers of George Steiner. Churchill Archives Centre, 2001
- The Harvard Gazette (September 27, 2001)
- Scott, Nathan A. and Ronald A. Sharp, (eds.). Reading George Steiner. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. ISBN 978-0801848322
- Steiner, George. Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: an essay in the old criticism. Knopf Press, 1959. OCLC 174027
External links
All links retrieved June 16, 2017.
- "George Steiner’s Jewish Problem". Azure: Ideas for the Jewish Nation.
- George Steiner at BrainyQuote.com.
- George Steiner at the Internet Movie Database.
- George Steiner bibliography. Fantastic Fiction.
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