The Poetry of Thought: From Hellenism to Celan

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The Poetry of Thought: From Hellenism to Celan

4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 · rating details · 22 ratings · 6 reviews

With his hallmark forceful discernment, George Steiner presents in The Poetry of Thought his magnum opus: an examination of more than two millennia of Western culture, staking out his claim for the essential oneness of great thought and great style. Sweeping yet precise, moving from essential detail to bracing illustration, Steiner spans the entire history of philosophy in...more

Hardcover, 192 pages

Published January 24th 2012 by New Directions (first published January 1st 2012)

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Jun 02, 2012 Jim Coughenour rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: philosophy, thinkingcap, essaysforautodidacts

"The phenomenology of pure thought is almost daemonic in its strangeness." I've thought that myself. But if you haven't read the books of the hierophantic, hyper-erudite George Steiner, this book is probably not the place to begin. (Visit In Bluebeard's Castle.)

The temper of Steiner's mandarin musings has always been a bit feverish, the mood that of the "crisis theologians" of the 20th century, of existentialist extremity. Ultimate realities are often at stake. For the reader this means thehigh...more "The phenomenology of pure thought is almost daemonic in its strangeness." I've thought that myself. But if you haven't read the books of the hierophantic, hyper-erudite George Steiner, this book is probably not the place to begin. (Visit In Bluebeard's Castle.)

The temper of Steiner's mandarin musings has always been a bit feverish, the mood that of the "crisis theologians" of the 20th century, of existentialist extremity. Ultimate realities are often at stake. For the reader this means the high drama of ideas: Can we write poetry after Auschwitz? What was said – or more crucially, not said – when Heidegger and Celan took their walk through the dark woods of Germany? I'm only mocking a bit. I've been reading Steiner with admiration, appreciation and, yes, amusement ever since I was handed Language and Silence in the mid-70s — a book that proved to me on its first page that I'd never know as much as its author.

Another (very good) review on this page faults Steiner for being superficial and Eurocentric. Superficial isn't quite right. Steiner talks in the elite ellipsis of the classic humanities - a gliding reference indicates that he's not only familiar with a master's work but also with its attendant controversies and arcane affinities. One of the pleasures of reading Steiner is following his asides to discover whole avenues of achievement - authors and works otherwise forgotten. In this book he inspired me to actually read Paul Valery's Monsieur Teste and seek out the poet Durs Grünbein (to whom the book is dedicated).

As for his Eurocentrism – well, of course. Is this really something that requires an apology? No one can be a genius about everything; to be original and intelligent about anything is an accomplishment that escapes most of us. Steiner has been torturing himself with the irresolvable contradictions of Western thought for the past 60 years. His passion for continental philosophy and its eviscerations is everywhere evident, but he is never its apologist. Heidegger and his lesser epigones amaze him; they also elicit scathing contempt.

That said, there is the inadvertent comedy of his prose that has often proved too much, even for his admirers. Never one phrase where two will do. A rhetorical overpainting that easily muddies – an example almost at random, relating to the book's subject: "Scarcely any component of our theme, of the relations both substantive and historical between philosophy and poetics, between performative style and philosophic argument, between philosophers and poets in propria persona does not have an absolutely determinant place in Heidegger's teachings." Prose like this cumbers every page. It's obviously the way Steiner thinks, the sentence form obsessively striving for both sinuous precision and philosophic depth. Every artist has his tics. Books have been hurled against the wall for less. Caveat lector.

Reading Steiner makes me feel like an intellectual anarchist stepping into the hushed cathedral of humanism. I don't want to worship, but I'm happy that it's still somewhat intact, that the high priests (aging and aching) are still doing their job. Steiner — he knows as well as anyone — is a kind of magister who will soon be gone and will not be replaced.

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Jan 30, 2012 Tom rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, theory-philosophy-etc

George Steiner is a syncretist in the best sense of the word. Like Fredric Jameson, his main powers are those of summary and synthesis, with each of his books being a journey through, and explanation of, the entire Western tradition. The Poetry of Thought is no different. A master stylist and formidable thinker in his own right, Steiner seeks to show the common linguistic ground of literature and philosophy, that both depend upon "style." As he writes in the introduction, "Argument, even analyti...more George Steiner is a syncretist in the best sense of the word. Like Fredric Jameson, his main powers are those of summary and synthesis, with each of his books being a journey through, and explanation of, the entire Western tradition. The Poetry of Thought is no different. A master stylist and formidable thinker in his own right, Steiner seeks to show the common linguistic ground of literature and philosophy, that both depend upon "style." As he writes in the introduction, "Argument, even analytic, has its drumbeat. It is made ode."

In nine chapters totaling 217 pages, Steiner takes the reader whizzingly past all the major touchstones of the European philosophical tradition, from Heraclitus to Nietzsche, Plato to Agamben, Augustine and Aquinas to Sartre and Wittgenstein. He draws on perhaps eight linguistic traditions, mentioning dozens of versions of the Faust legend, emphasizing the importance of Galileo's reading of Ariosto and Tasso. A typical paragraph, like this one on Hegel's lack of stylistic grace, reads thus:

To consider Hegel as a writer verges on lèse-majesté. Is there any great philosopher seemingly less stylish, more averse to "spirited language" and elegance - "geistreiche Sprache" - as he found it in the French philosophes? Friends amended Hegel's tortuous syntax, so often derived from laboriously spoken, opaque lectures, abounding in rebarbative neologisms and Swabian locutions. The young Heine, even before a brief personal contact in 1822, was among the first of many who parodied the master's idiom. But the crux is not one of literary, rhetorical finish or welcoming suavity, let alone poetic inspiration.

Along the way, Steiner employs his characteristically punchy style. Here he is on the linguistic naïveté of classic psychoanalysis: "For Freud nothing cataclysmic has happened to the Logos since the Nichomachean Ethics." Giordano Bruno is described as an "imaginer of heretical infinities." Lucretius as "the most Latin of Roman poets." Adorno "yielded to the charms of obscurity." "Disinterested cerebral and sensory passion," we are told, "can no more be explained than love."

Yet for all the wonders of his prose, Steiner's two recurrent flaws become glaringly obvious in The Poetry of Thought: superficiality and Eurocentrism. As to the first, Steiner should not be blamed for such faults; it is part of the trade of the syncretist to pre-digest entire libraries of thought and touch upon them only through allusion and brief quotation. Like Confucius, Steiner lifts up one corner of a subject, expecting the student to pick up the other three (Analects VII.8).

Which brings me to Steiner's second (and more serious) flaw: his intense Eurocentrism. Although many of Steiner's books make claims to universality (see also After Babel and Real Presences), he is so steeped in the traditions of classical Europe, especially as it comes to us through twentieth-century French and German philosophy, that he seemingly cannot conceive of the rest of the world. I counted two references to the Chinese tradition in this book, one of which was actually to Borges. Islamic thinkers, too, only receive mention through Borges. Russia is important only as a check on Marx. Not to mention the lack of anything related to the civilizations of South Asia, Africa, non-European America. This ignorance would not be so irksome if Steiner would just fess up to it, state at the outset that he aims to work within a very specific tradition and not make gestures toward universality.

As it is, George Steiner has left us a very valuable essay on the interconnections between literature and philosophy in the classical European tradition. The Poetry of Thought is intellectual candy for the Western humanist, a source of brief, penetrating insights into some very difficult works, written with style and grace. But, like all syncretisms, something is lost in the mix.(less)

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Jun 07, 2012 Matthew Linck rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this pretty quickly, maybe a slower reading would have revealed more. Perhaps Steiner expected his audience to find the notion that philosophical thought and the linguistic modes of its expression are intimately related to be more striking than I found it. And perhaps in certain circles such a notion runs against common opinion. In this way, the book did not convince me of anything new. But Steiner's writing is beautiful and often bracing, and there were a smattering of remarks and insigh...more

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Apr 05, 2012 Riet rated it 5 of 5 stars

Een interessant essay over de verbinding tussen literatuur en poezie. Steiner begint bij Plato en eindigt in onze tijd. Aan het eind is het vooral de vebinding tussen Paul Celan en de Duitse (nazi)filosoof Heidegger. Hij beslaat eigenlijk de hele westerse beschaving, Chinese of Japanse denkers komen niet aan bod. Aan te bevelen, als je in het onderwerp geinteresseerd bent; anders misschien wel wat taai.

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Apr 28, 2012 Ken Baumann rated it 5 of 5 stars

A full dive into the polyglot, polymath mind. This book is a really gorgeous trace of the musicality of philosophy and storytelling. Doesn't get more culturally packed than this. Yesplease.

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Jan 17, 2012 Justin added it

Fascinating stuff.

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About George Steiner

See also: George A. Steiner, author on Management and Planning.

Dr. Francis George Steiner is an essayist, novelist, philosopher, literary critic, and educator. He has written for The New Yorker for over thirty years, contributing over two hundred reviews. Among his many awards, he received The Truman Capote Lifetime Achievement Award from Stanford University 1998. He lives in Cambridge, England,...more

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Books by George Steiner

After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation

In Bluebeard's Castle: Some Notes Towards the Redefinition of Culture

Language & Silence: Essays on Language, Literature & the Inhuman

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