About
George Steiner (1929-2020) was a French-American literary critic, linguist, writer, and philosopher. Born in Paris to Austrian Jewish parents, he fled to New York in 1940. Educated at Chicago, Harvard, and Oxford, he taught at Geneva, Oxford, and Harvard. A critic for The New Yorker from 1966 to 1997, he authored major works such as After Babel (1975), which explores translation and language. His thought centers on the paradox of culture and barbarism, and the responsibility of the intellectual. He received numerous awards, including the Prince of Asturias in 2001.
* 1929-04-23 — † 2020-02-03
Major works
- Tolstoy or Dostoevsky (1959)essay
- The Death of Tragedy (1961)essay
- Language and Silence (1967)essay
- After Babel (1975)essay
- The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. (1981)novel
Key milestones
- 1974Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Geneva until 1994.
- 1998Elected Fellow of the British Academy.
- 2001Awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Communication and Humanities.
Themes
language and translationculture and barbarismJudaism and identityliterature and philosophyresponsibility of the intellectual
Sources: thebritishacademy.ac.uk · britannica.com · news.harvard.edu