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My Unwritten Books
By one of the world’s foremost intellectuals, George Steiner’s My Unwritten Books meditates upon seven books he had long had in mind to write, but never did. Massively erudite, the essays are also brave, unflinching, and wholly personal. In this fiercely original and audacious work, George Steiner tells of seven books which he did not write. Because intimacies and indiscretions were too threatening. Because the topic brought too much pain. Because its emotional or intellectual challenge proved beyond his capacities. The actual themes range widely and defy conventional the torment of the gifted when they live among―when they confront―the very great; the experience of sex in different languages; a love for animals greater than for human beings; the costly privilege of exile; a theology of emptiness. Yet a unifying perception underlies this diversity. The best we have or can produce is only the tip of the iceberg. Behind every good book, as in a lit shadow, lies the book which remained unwritten, the one that would have failed better.
209 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
14 people are currently reading
483 people want to read
About the author
George Steiner
189 books572 followersGeorge Steiner was a French and American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, and educator whose work explored the relationship between language, literature, and society, with a particular focus on the moral and cultural consequences of the Holocaust. Multilingual from an early age, Steiner grew up speaking German, English, and French, and studied the classics under his father, while overcoming a physical handicap with his mother’s encouragement. His family relocated to the United States during World War II, an experience that shaped his lifelong reflections on survival, morality, and human cruelty. He studied literature, mathematics, and physics at the University of Chicago, earned an MA at Harvard, and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. Steiner held academic posts across Europe and the United States, including Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Geneva, Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge, the first Lord Weidenfeld Professor of Comparative European Literature at Oxford, and Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard, teaching in multiple languages. A prolific writer, he produced influential works in criticism, translation studies, and fiction, including Tolstoy or Dostoevsky, The Death of Tragedy, After Babel, and The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H., blending historical insight with philosophical reflection. His essays and books explored the power and ambivalence of human language, the ethical responsibilities of literature, and the persistence of anti-Semitism, while his fiction offered imaginative examinations of moral and historical dilemmas. Steiner was celebrated for his intellectual breadth and lecturing style, described as prophetic, charismatic, and sometimes doom-laden, and he contributed extensively to journals such as The Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian, and The New Yorker. He was married to Zara Steiner, with whom he had two children, David and Deborah, both of whom pursued academic and public service careers. Steiner’s work remains widely respected for its integration of rigorous scholarship, ethical inquiry, and literary sensitivity, marking him as one of the foremost thinkers in twentieth-century literature and comparative studies.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
June 9, 2021
We make of ourselves the condemned shadows of these stronger lights.
No sunburn today. Our mountain was lashed with serial tempests. Facing such constraints, I remained excited to explore this book. This is a collection of prospective themes that Steiner either neglected or failed to compose and such began with aplomb. The first two selections are simply astonishing: Chinoiserie on the imminent Sinologist Joseph Needham and Invidia on the role of envy in intellectual history. I thought perhaps wryly perhaps with a splash of petulance that Steiner ached to be Robert Burton but one with the moral weight of an Elie Wiesel. These suspicions moved to the fore as (again) Steiner ruminated on Eros , unfortunately by relating his own experience if not prowess. Steiner does maintain an excellent reading of Casanova. Steiner also makes an incredible ableist misstep in an allusion about the sex lives of the “deaf-mute”. Due to the downpour we proceeded downhill and explored cuisine. I returned to the text upon our return and again found myself dispirited. I feel that the opening pair of prospects are remarkable erudition even within the almost theological trappings of the subjunctive.
No sunburn today. Our mountain was lashed with serial tempests. Facing such constraints, I remained excited to explore this book. This is a collection of prospective themes that Steiner either neglected or failed to compose and such began with aplomb. The first two selections are simply astonishing: Chinoiserie on the imminent Sinologist Joseph Needham and Invidia on the role of envy in intellectual history. I thought perhaps wryly perhaps with a splash of petulance that Steiner ached to be Robert Burton but one with the moral weight of an Elie Wiesel. These suspicions moved to the fore as (again) Steiner ruminated on Eros , unfortunately by relating his own experience if not prowess. Steiner does maintain an excellent reading of Casanova. Steiner also makes an incredible ableist misstep in an allusion about the sex lives of the “deaf-mute”. Due to the downpour we proceeded downhill and explored cuisine. I returned to the text upon our return and again found myself dispirited. I feel that the opening pair of prospects are remarkable erudition even within the almost theological trappings of the subjunctive.
April 27, 2010
I'd never heard of George Steiner before, but apparently he's dazzling, superb (a phenomenon), unique, powerful, brilliantly illuminating, the polymath's polymath, one of the world's foremost intellectuals. Here he writes 7 essays on books he might have written, but didn't. (We must be thankful he didn't write the book "The Tongues of Eros," about language and sex, which goes into numbing, repulsive, and sickeningly poetic detail about his sexual practices with various women who are named by nationality and first initial only. After you read this chapter you examine the wizened, mischievously grinning man on the book jacket and wail despondently; the elderly, have they no pride anymore? No discretion? Yet strangely, there is another essay bemoaning the lack of privacy and absence of discretion in our modern world.) Essays on Zionism and our love for animals are tendentious and boring.
The essay "Invidia" is among the best, about the jealousies that also-rans (in academia, art, science, etc.) feel for the winners. The essay "Chinoiserie" is also good. It discusses the strange intellectual Joseph Needham, author of a 30 volume work entitled "Science and Civilization in China" in the context of the slipperiness of fact and fiction. ("Always, the epistemological status of the two categories has been unstable" is the way Steiner puts it.) In suggesting how Needham's massive work of history, science, and analytical scholarship might be considered fiction, and in comparing it to other scholarly works so passionate, so "autistic" in their rigorous documentation that they become almost surreal and hallucinatory, Steiner displays the ingenuity, deftness, sparkly prose, and, maybe for lack of a better term, relevance that is missing from many of the other essays. I actually found myself wishing he had written that book.
The essay "Invidia" is among the best, about the jealousies that also-rans (in academia, art, science, etc.) feel for the winners. The essay "Chinoiserie" is also good. It discusses the strange intellectual Joseph Needham, author of a 30 volume work entitled "Science and Civilization in China" in the context of the slipperiness of fact and fiction. ("Always, the epistemological status of the two categories has been unstable" is the way Steiner puts it.) In suggesting how Needham's massive work of history, science, and analytical scholarship might be considered fiction, and in comparing it to other scholarly works so passionate, so "autistic" in their rigorous documentation that they become almost surreal and hallucinatory, Steiner displays the ingenuity, deftness, sparkly prose, and, maybe for lack of a better term, relevance that is missing from many of the other essays. I actually found myself wishing he had written that book.
December 13, 2022
Aunque es un libro escrito con la voluntad que sea un conjunto, de hecho en varios capítulos se menciona o se recuerda algo dicho anteriormente, que es lo habitual, luego se percibe cierta sensación que este título es una especie de libro de 'caras B y maquetas', si acaso un conjunto de artículos variopintos, pues amplias son las lecturas y la sabiduría de Steiner.
No es una obra que busque sentar cátedra y dividir las aguas, eso está claro, no es tanto el tema en sí como la escritura de Steiner lo que dota de peso y sustancia a la lectura. Su estilo es fluido y erudito, no le falta sus gotas de pedantería pero también contiene mucha cercanía, lanza una invitación a la aventura intelectual, abordando con vivacidad temas tales como el amor por los animales (desde el bestialismo a la convivencia con los animales domésticos), la identidad judía, los problemas del sistema educacional occidental (que es el que él conoce, pues enseñó durante décadas) y otros más, siempre entra con modestia pero también encontrando sabias conexiones, ya sean clásicas o modernas, que amplían la perspectiva del escrito y por lo tanto del lector.
Le da igual que sea geometría, ciencia, literatura, música... nada de lo humano le es ajeno. Incluso de lo perruno. Entre todas las ideas brillantes que han ido apareciendo en la lectura, me quedo con esa equiparación que realiza entre las matemáticas y la música, pues si se toman las partituras de por ejemplo Bach, no hay duda que hay un componente matemático, que es la prueba que la geometría es la música que Dios hace cuando canta para sí mismo (la cita por cierto es de Leibinz). Desde Pitágoras hasta Beckett, pasando por Montaigne o Proust, su repaso y repositorio de nombres, que ayudan a ilustrar y asimilar mejor sus argumentos, es oceánico. Da la sensación que si hablara de las obras públicas en una calle peatonal cualquiera también lograría hacerlo interesante y entretenido a base de agudas observaciones y cultas conexiones. Es así como se escriben los ensayos.
No es una obra que busque sentar cátedra y dividir las aguas, eso está claro, no es tanto el tema en sí como la escritura de Steiner lo que dota de peso y sustancia a la lectura. Su estilo es fluido y erudito, no le falta sus gotas de pedantería pero también contiene mucha cercanía, lanza una invitación a la aventura intelectual, abordando con vivacidad temas tales como el amor por los animales (desde el bestialismo a la convivencia con los animales domésticos), la identidad judía, los problemas del sistema educacional occidental (que es el que él conoce, pues enseñó durante décadas) y otros más, siempre entra con modestia pero también encontrando sabias conexiones, ya sean clásicas o modernas, que amplían la perspectiva del escrito y por lo tanto del lector.
Le da igual que sea geometría, ciencia, literatura, música... nada de lo humano le es ajeno. Incluso de lo perruno. Entre todas las ideas brillantes que han ido apareciendo en la lectura, me quedo con esa equiparación que realiza entre las matemáticas y la música, pues si se toman las partituras de por ejemplo Bach, no hay duda que hay un componente matemático, que es la prueba que la geometría es la música que Dios hace cuando canta para sí mismo (la cita por cierto es de Leibinz). Desde Pitágoras hasta Beckett, pasando por Montaigne o Proust, su repaso y repositorio de nombres, que ayudan a ilustrar y asimilar mejor sus argumentos, es oceánico. Da la sensación que si hablara de las obras públicas en una calle peatonal cualquiera también lograría hacerlo interesante y entretenido a base de agudas observaciones y cultas conexiones. Es así como se escriben los ensayos.
August 22, 2021
Jako zanimljivo, ali neujednačeno i mjestimice šokantno... Poglavlje o odnosu jezika i seksualnosti odlično pokazuje tu ambivalenciju - interpretacija je sjajna, sadržaj zapanjujuće, čak neugodno osoban, a premisa ne samo politički, nego i uopće nekorektna (o seksualnosti osoba koje naziva gluhonijemim). Na drugom mjestu mrtav-hladan priznaje da mu je više stalo do njegovih pasa nego do (njegovih) žene i djece.. I naravno, kad piše o "univerzalnim", "ljudskim" i "općeljudskim" temama, Steiner, kao i većina polihistora i klasika, ne primjećuje (ili tek rijetko primjećuje) da mu je to "univerzalno" i "općeljudsko" samo muško... Ukratko, upućeno, autarkično, narcističko..
March 30, 2008
I have been reading George for forty years and savour his prose. This book is an enjoyable read but doesnt really say anything new except that he misses God not being around any more. He is a bit silly about his sex life which will upset his wife.
Read
April 24, 2008Each of the seven chapters covers a book Steiner had hoped to write but did not. I loved the premise and liked getting introduced to topics I frankly wouldn’t want a whole book about--it’s a pleasure to follow his thoughts on, say, Needham’s Chinese encyclopedia for ten or so pages, but then I'm fine to move on. The only one I wished were a full-length work was the chapter on forgotten poet Cecco d'Ascoli and the nature of envy. Just as I was thinking Steiner's entire life took place in the mind, I got to the chapter on language and sexuality, which details the polyglot erotic adventures of his youth (he had the most fun in bed, linguistically anyway, in Italian). Sometimes I was distracted by his self-admiration; it’s already plain that he’s brilliant--his thinking is so broad, vital, syncretic--there’s no need for him to pat his own back about it. His current title at Cambridge is “Extraordinary Fellow,” very fitting.
May 29, 2018
En un gesto encantador Steiner escribe siete textos largos sobre temas a los que le hubiera gustado dedicar un libro entero. Así pasan la pasión por China y la vida de Joseph Needham, la vida oculta y literaria de Cecco d’Ascoli, la sexualidad y la lengua, el judaísmo y su persistencia existencial, una comparación entre los criterios educativos del primer mundo, la relación del hombre con los animales y un breve ensayo sobre las ideas políticas.
Todos escritos con la ligereza y la erudición de quien nos está explicando sobre qué escribirá cuando logre encontrar el espacio para hacer el libro que, como dice el título, nunca llegará.
Todos escritos con la ligereza y la erudición de quien nos está explicando sobre qué escribirá cuando logre encontrar el espacio para hacer el libro que, como dice el título, nunca llegará.
May 27, 2008
Steiner's range of reference is the whole of Western (and a fair amount of Eastern) science, literature, history, art, music, and philosophy. This often made me feel like I'd been given an aerial view of topics I've only had access to from ant's-eye level. Occasionally, his style makes his arguments seem fatuous, and I felt like I was in the presence of an inescapable gasbag.
April 20, 2008
This is a good example of how a great idea for a book doesn't necessarily translate into a great book. The essays on envy and multi-lingual loving are the highlights. The others are a bit of a slog.
December 11, 2017
Versión kindle. Voy a ser sincera, no esperaba lo que encontré. Sin saber siquiera quién es George Steiner, escogí el libro por el título. que, me imaginaba, se refería a novelas. No me molesté en leer la reseña, defecto cada vez más pronunciado de mi personalidad.
Total que no ha sido una decepción. Cada "libro no escrito" trata de cavilaciones, a mi modo de ver, compartidas por todos. Mis favoritos han sido "Los idiomas de Eros" (por mi formación en letras) "Cuestiones educativas" (creo que cada vez somos más los que abogamos por una educación "universal", a cuya materia propuesta le agregaría leer y escribir) y "Del hombre y la bestia" (justo estos días volvía ver 2001: Odisea del espacio, y la escena de los homínidos tomó nueva dimensión). Intentó ser parcial con "Sión" pero, la verdad, es que no puedo; efectivamente hay demasiadas telarañas en relación al pueblo judío. "Invidia" es el ensayo mejor logrado de todos. "Chinoiserie" y "Petición de principio" son temas que, lamento, no serán libros. Me habría gustado leer más a fondo sobre Needham y comparto varias nociones, especialmente la del ateísmo, y otras no tanto, que se presentan en el segundo.
En cuanto a la escritura, tal vez sea porque lo leí en pantalla, pero me ha parecido un libro difícil, no por su vocabulario ni estilo, que es directo y claro, pero sí por las ideas que esbozaba. Con frecuencia tenía que volver a leer para saber si seguía el hilo de lo que Steiner decía.
Total que no ha sido una decepción. Cada "libro no escrito" trata de cavilaciones, a mi modo de ver, compartidas por todos. Mis favoritos han sido "Los idiomas de Eros" (por mi formación en letras) "Cuestiones educativas" (creo que cada vez somos más los que abogamos por una educación "universal", a cuya materia propuesta le agregaría leer y escribir) y "Del hombre y la bestia" (justo estos días volvía ver 2001: Odisea del espacio, y la escena de los homínidos tomó nueva dimensión). Intentó ser parcial con "Sión" pero, la verdad, es que no puedo; efectivamente hay demasiadas telarañas en relación al pueblo judío. "Invidia" es el ensayo mejor logrado de todos. "Chinoiserie" y "Petición de principio" son temas que, lamento, no serán libros. Me habría gustado leer más a fondo sobre Needham y comparto varias nociones, especialmente la del ateísmo, y otras no tanto, que se presentan en el segundo.
En cuanto a la escritura, tal vez sea porque lo leí en pantalla, pero me ha parecido un libro difícil, no por su vocabulario ni estilo, que es directo y claro, pero sí por las ideas que esbozaba. Con frecuencia tenía que volver a leer para saber si seguía el hilo de lo que Steiner decía.
November 15, 2021
Seven chapters that Steiner didn't venture to elongate , his pondering leaves traces on his stance.
/ The role of jealousy in academia and the struggle to affirm one's identity and potential through the narration about Cecco d'ascoli , an adversary to Dante . His Acerba ,an attempt to translate the mysterium tremendum et fascinans that lead him to the stake - albeit being considered one of the sages of the renaissance while the eminence of Dante was undisputed.
The tragic role of chance in lives and the spirit of times inability to grasp the signified at first glance.
/The role of language in erotic intercourse and how race manifests in a variant mode altogether.
The contour that language gives to emotion and its regulatory role in the bestial outbursts in sexual intercourse.
/The rationale underlying in political abstention and an apology for esteem of private mode
/Zionism and what it means to be a Jew intertemporaly
/Pedagogy and today's social status. An insight into institutions and their inadequacy to comport to their stature
/Evolution , man from beast
/China and its past significance. Unknown traits
Writing is revealing and unreserved. GS is a silent rebel ,to whose writing multiple talent found channeling and reason. The last essay ; 'begging the question' stands for an eloquent apology and mirrors soul searching in a frantic way by the poverty ( grammatical) of dialectics.
Notable creation.
June 13, 2019
Часове, прекарани със затаен дъх. Шокиращо богата, разнопосочна книга, пълна с универсално знание и хуманзъм. Научно и лично, обобщаващо и характерно. Това писане, мисленето на Стайнър, есетата в книгата, са наистина необичайна пресечна точка между огромна ерудиция, любов към истината, търсачество, безспорен талант и аристократизъм + гений. На шега като че е наречена "Моите ненаписани книги", защото дори само ескизите върху бъдещите заглавия на Стайнър вече сами по себе си представляват изключително интересни и обогатяващи разкази. Докато чета, завиждам на класическата му ерудираност, на стила на човек от времето, когато информираността се е оформяла в библиотеките и с академично общуване, в физически пътешествия и риска да пипнеш малария, докато опознаваш високата култура на далечни земи. Страниците за китайския енциклопедизъм, споровете за ляво и дясно са истински балсам за изнурения от плоски дебати и редукции европейски (и особено български) читател. Ако така се пишат "ненаписани" книги... А преводът, както обикновено от този преводач, е безупречен, съавторски на оригинала - навремето е имало такава позабравена дума "конгениален"...
April 19, 2020
83 『나의 쓰지 않은 책들』 - 조지 스타이너, 고정아 옮김
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얼마 전 세상을 떠난 평론가 조지 스타이너의 책으로, 자신이 썼을 책에 관한 비평이자 에세이다.
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최근 인용으로 종종 접한 #플랫랜드 의 비유를 떠올리게 하는 다른 차원의 비평으로, 가상의 작품을 존재한다고 전제한 가상의 비평인 셈이다. 허수를 통해 실재의 해답을 추론하거나 사고실험을 통해 하나의 층위 너머를 끌어들이는 것. 과거의 학문으로 자신을 정의하는 동시에 대안을 슬그머니 제시한다.
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저자 스스로도 밝혔듯이, 존재 자체가 이차적인(p80) 비평가의 운명에 관한 창조적인 구성을 문학, 언어학, 철학과 음악 그리고 수학에까지 이르는 저자의 광대한 지적 성취로 조직해낸다.
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그러나 네 번째 장부터는 에세이로 전환되면서 자서전 성격으로 바뀌는데, 저자 스스로도 '민족에서 민속으로' 변화하고 있다 말한 유대인 정체성에 대한 완고한 목소리를 드러낸다.
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그래서 고도로 입체적인 문학 비평이 무색해지지만, 여러 학문을 넘나들며 문해력의 저하에 대한 우려와 쌓아올린 문학 세계를 응축하는 사변, 고도를 기다리듯 신을 기다리는 인간에 관한 사유, 유려한 아포리즘은 제임스 조이스가 말한 것과 같이 '올리브를 짜는 것'처럼 충만한 지적 체험을 제공한다.
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스스로도 천재였던 저자가 은근히 밝히는 취향이나 작가들에 대한 평가를 접하는 것도 하나의 재미인데, 유독 천재로 평하는 두 작가. 나보코프에 관해서는 양가적인 입장인데 반해, 카프카는 오직 천재로 인정한다.
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그리고 순수 독일 작가에 대한 입장은 보기가 어려운데, 자신 스스로 차마 완전히 해체하지 못한 민족성에 기인한다는 것을 알 수 있다. 아멘. 또 하나, 영미권의 문해력 저하를 초래하는 이유로 교육 정책을 지적하지만, 자본 계급성은 외면한다. 역시 독일은 거론하지 않는다. 다시 아멘.
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저자는 '존재하지 않은 신을 경외'한다는 불가지론자다.
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#나의쓰지않은책들 #조지스타이너 #myunwrittenbooks #georgesteiner #서커스 #문학비평 #문학 #책 #독서
⭐⭐⭐⭐
얼마 전 세상을 떠난 평론가 조지 스타이너의 책으로, 자신이 썼을 책에 관한 비평이자 에세이다.
ㆍ
최근 인용으로 종종 접한 #플랫랜드 의 비유를 떠올리게 하는 다른 차원의 비평으로, 가상의 작품을 존재한다고 전제한 가상의 비평인 셈이다. 허수를 통해 실재의 해답을 추론하거나 사고실험을 통해 하나의 층위 너머를 끌어들이는 것. 과거의 학문으로 자신을 정의하는 동시에 대안을 슬그머니 제시한다.
ㆍ
저자 스스로도 밝혔듯이, 존재 자체가 이차적인(p80) 비평가의 운명에 관한 창조적인 구성을 문학, 언어학, 철학과 음악 그리고 수학에까지 이르는 저자의 광대한 지적 성취로 조직해낸다.
ㆍ
그러나 네 번째 장부터는 에세이로 전환되면서 자서전 성격으로 바뀌는데, 저자 스스로도 '민족에서 민속으로' 변화하고 있다 말한 유대인 정체성에 대한 완고한 목소리를 드러낸다.
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그래서 고도로 입체적인 문학 비평이 무색해지지만, 여러 학문을 넘나들며 문해력의 저하에 대한 우려와 쌓아올린 문학 세계를 응축하는 사변, 고도를 기다리듯 신을 기다리는 인간에 관한 사유, 유려한 아포리즘은 제임스 조이스가 말한 것과 같이 '올리브를 짜는 것'처럼 충만한 지적 체험을 제공한다.
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스스로도 천재였던 저자가 은근히 밝히는 취향이나 작가들에 대한 평가를 접하는 것도 하나의 재미인데, 유독 천재로 평하는 두 작가. 나보코프에 관해서는 양가적인 입장인데 반해, 카프카는 오직 천재로 인정한다.
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그리고 순수 독일 작가에 대한 입장은 보기가 어려운데, 자신 스스로 차마 완전히 해체하지 못한 민족성에 기인한다는 것을 알 수 있다. 아멘. 또 하나, 영미권의 문해력 저하를 초래하는 이유로 교육 정책을 지적하지만, 자본 계급성은 외면한다. 역시 독일은 거론하지 않는다. 다시 아멘.
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저자는 '존재하지 않은 신을 경외'한다는 불가지론자다.
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#나의쓰지않은책들 #조지스타이너 #myunwrittenbooks #georgesteiner #서커스 #문학비평 #문학 #책 #독서
April 26, 2021
This is my first introduction to George Steiner, and I thoroughly enjoyed his exposition on seven topics where he would have liked to have written a book about but either did not, or could not. The arcane chapter on Francesco Stabili excepting, the topics were topical and thought-provoking. It was wonderful to behold the depth and breadth of his classical and medieval learning, and to experience his formidable intellect at work. Unlike many intellectuals, he writes clearly and persuasively, and his arguments are a pleasure to read and follow. A treat.
March 2, 2020
I'm actually not finished, because you could never "finish" the late George Steiner. But I am finished reading "Zion", and I am pleased that it has been included in this compilation, one of the books he was not able to write, because it means he was not able to solve the problem expressed in Zion, and therefore is a human being like the rest of us. Perhaps he may have been able to write that book if he had lived longer, but I doubt it. It is a thorny problem!
June 20, 2024
Muy meritoria obra que trata temas bien distintos y nos da una idea de la tamaña sabiduría y elocuencia del autor. Un texto exigente que implica esfuerzo y atención, pero que compensa con frases dignas de subrayar. Es un buen ejercicio para el intelecto, para mantener en forma nuestros cerebros. Además llena nuestras poco dotadas mentes con un montón de ideas bien estructuradas. Al principio cuesta cogerle el tono, pero al final te haces con ello y disfrutas.
February 29, 2024
Very erudite. Most essays/books not written were not of my interest at all. The writer has a very free flowing and intellectual style of writing, but it's hard to read something you disagree with so much.
March 6, 2024
Hermoso libro de una de las mentes más brillantes de la critica literaria reciente, donde el autor tiende puentes entre siete vacios literarios y el reino de lo posible, que no dejaran indiferente a quien camine sobre ellos.
Fernando S. (Miembro del Club de Lectura Guadalajara)
Fernando S. (Miembro del Club de Lectura Guadalajara)
March 21, 2018
The first three chapters are incredible, but after that the quality drops dramatically
August 12, 2020
Fantastic
Read
March 23, 2022Steiner escribe muy bien, muy fluido y en general me encanta, pero me ha costado horrores acabar My Unwritten Books porque lo he encontrado poco interesante a partir del capítulo 4.
Want to read
January 28, 2024Zemřel teoretik George Steiner, byl přední postavou literární vědy
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 29, 2024
An excellent collection of essays memoializing abandoned writing projects.
The best covers language and erotica: really rich historical depth.
None of the chapters are uninteresting.
The best covers language and erotica: really rich historical depth.
None of the chapters are uninteresting.
September 6, 2016
George Steiner, the “polymath’s polymath” of “total cultural mastery, from the pre-Socratics to the postmodern.” What does such an individual dream about? One must be curious.
Envy, sex, linguistics, Jewish identity, the historiography of Chinese scientism, intersectional international educational standards, animal love, political participation, the existence of God…
Central to Steiner, and perhaps to the authorial ethos writ large, is the idea that there remains something to be said. Almost by definition we live quotidian lives, unaware of the grave and grand implications suggested by our every action. Writers, hyperconscious, have throughout history served to illuminate these suggestions and their multifold potentialities. And although the map can never be perfect, a high sage of comparative literature such as Steiner is in a unique position to identify where these unmapped territories lie.
Steiner is a neophile, highly open to new experiences and new ways of experiencing. I get the feeling is plagued by the fact that he’s now in his so to speak “twilight years.” He intuitively grasps the influence of technology on our cultural milieu, both in terms of what it enables and what it drives out. Old, studied methods of relation and understanding, particularly when it comes to literature and philosophy (Steiner’s domain), are on the decline due in large part to the zeitgeist of mass-market scalability. On a more poetic level, by proxy of being alive Steiner has a front-row seat to his own obsolescence.
His greatest hope - the proliferation of content - must then also be his greatest fear. It is a double-edged sword which enriches us with effective infinities of entertainment while slashing the very concept of comprehensive comparison. Total cultural mastery is impossible; does Sisyphus imagine himself happy?
Yet Steiner still believes there are things to be said, positively said. He’s outlined a few of them in this collection of essays, ending each with a witty rejoinder explaining why they remain merely outlines. Most of them point to ego fragility. But as I’m sure Steiner understands, the great explorers don’t just map out the unexplored, they go there, sometimes at their own peril, sometimes because the peril compels them.
What I’d really like to see is Steiner trying out various psychedelics and writing about his experience.
Favorite quotes
“It was Cartesian rationality, Kantian criticism, Hegelian and Marxist scenarios of history which underwrote the exponential deployment of the Western understanding of and mastery over nature.” [p. 16]
“What is it like to be an epic poet with philosophic aspirations when Dante is, as it were, in the neighborhood? To be a contemporary playwright when Shakespeare is out to lunch? ‘How can I be if another is?’ asks Goethe.” [p. 43]
“A teacher, a critic, a commentator or publicist can open doors for the creators. He can quicken to deserved life what has been censored or overlooked. It is a blessed condition. It is, nonetheless, strictly secondary and auxiliary. A-minus at the very best.” [p. 57]
“What should be the most spontaneously anarchic, individually exploratory and inventive of human encounters, is to a very large degree scripted.” [p. 63]
“Every human tongue challenges reality in its own unique manner.” [p. 65]
“Today, in the mass-consumption, mass-media democracies of the West and the developing world, it is no longer possible to separate political liberalism and representative government from capitalism.” [p. 193-194]
“On the third day of the Chechen seizure of the school in Beslan, the children were dying of torturing thirst. Even their urine had ceased. For two days, they had prayed to almighty God. No reply. On the final day, they called for help to Harry Potter and his favorite Wizard. This seems to me as close as we can get to the truth of the human situation.” [p.206]
New vocab words
This book is great if you want to learn some new words. I picked up: syncretism, onanism, coruscate, rebarbative, elide, Invidia (who knew the graphics card company took its name from this?)
Envy, sex, linguistics, Jewish identity, the historiography of Chinese scientism, intersectional international educational standards, animal love, political participation, the existence of God…
Central to Steiner, and perhaps to the authorial ethos writ large, is the idea that there remains something to be said. Almost by definition we live quotidian lives, unaware of the grave and grand implications suggested by our every action. Writers, hyperconscious, have throughout history served to illuminate these suggestions and their multifold potentialities. And although the map can never be perfect, a high sage of comparative literature such as Steiner is in a unique position to identify where these unmapped territories lie.
Steiner is a neophile, highly open to new experiences and new ways of experiencing. I get the feeling is plagued by the fact that he’s now in his so to speak “twilight years.” He intuitively grasps the influence of technology on our cultural milieu, both in terms of what it enables and what it drives out. Old, studied methods of relation and understanding, particularly when it comes to literature and philosophy (Steiner’s domain), are on the decline due in large part to the zeitgeist of mass-market scalability. On a more poetic level, by proxy of being alive Steiner has a front-row seat to his own obsolescence.
His greatest hope - the proliferation of content - must then also be his greatest fear. It is a double-edged sword which enriches us with effective infinities of entertainment while slashing the very concept of comprehensive comparison. Total cultural mastery is impossible; does Sisyphus imagine himself happy?
Yet Steiner still believes there are things to be said, positively said. He’s outlined a few of them in this collection of essays, ending each with a witty rejoinder explaining why they remain merely outlines. Most of them point to ego fragility. But as I’m sure Steiner understands, the great explorers don’t just map out the unexplored, they go there, sometimes at their own peril, sometimes because the peril compels them.
What I’d really like to see is Steiner trying out various psychedelics and writing about his experience.
Favorite quotes
“It was Cartesian rationality, Kantian criticism, Hegelian and Marxist scenarios of history which underwrote the exponential deployment of the Western understanding of and mastery over nature.” [p. 16]
“What is it like to be an epic poet with philosophic aspirations when Dante is, as it were, in the neighborhood? To be a contemporary playwright when Shakespeare is out to lunch? ‘How can I be if another is?’ asks Goethe.” [p. 43]
“A teacher, a critic, a commentator or publicist can open doors for the creators. He can quicken to deserved life what has been censored or overlooked. It is a blessed condition. It is, nonetheless, strictly secondary and auxiliary. A-minus at the very best.” [p. 57]
“What should be the most spontaneously anarchic, individually exploratory and inventive of human encounters, is to a very large degree scripted.” [p. 63]
“Every human tongue challenges reality in its own unique manner.” [p. 65]
“Today, in the mass-consumption, mass-media democracies of the West and the developing world, it is no longer possible to separate political liberalism and representative government from capitalism.” [p. 193-194]
“On the third day of the Chechen seizure of the school in Beslan, the children were dying of torturing thirst. Even their urine had ceased. For two days, they had prayed to almighty God. No reply. On the final day, they called for help to Harry Potter and his favorite Wizard. This seems to me as close as we can get to the truth of the human situation.” [p.206]
New vocab words
This book is great if you want to learn some new words. I picked up: syncretism, onanism, coruscate, rebarbative, elide, Invidia (who knew the graphics card company took its name from this?)
January 22, 2015
In Alberto Manguel's wonderful compendium of libraries, The Library at Night, he writes:
"We can imagine the books we'd like to read, even if they have not yet been written, and we can imagine libraries full of books we would like to possess, even if the are well beyond our reach, because we enjoy dreaming up a library that reflects every one of our interests and every one of our foibles--a library that, in its variety and complexity, fully reflects the reader we are."
This idea, and I share his feelings along with the distress of finding books that I would love to have in my library but are too dear for my pocketbook, as expressed in the line "even if they have not yet been written" leads me to a wonderful book that is in my library, My Unwritten Books by George Steiner; described as a "grand master of erudition", he is a both polymath and eclectic as a thinker and writer of prose, both fictional and non-fictional.
In My Unwritten Books he imagines seven books that he did not write, but would have written if only he had not met some insurmountable physical, intellectual or psychological obstacle that prevented him from doing so. The essays describing these books are mini-books in themselves with excursions into such disparate worlds as the multiple languages of sex, the claims of Zionism, the natures of exile and a theology of emptiness.
My favorite among the essays is his personal excursion into the nature of education, "School Terms". Beginning with his own anarchic education that saw the onset of his school life with three languages while studying in Manhattan and France. All this before spending his university years at the University of Chicago and Harvard and completing his graduate work at Oxford. He contrasts the differences between education in France (orderly) and America (anarchic) and moves on to a brief commentary on some of the changes that these systems, especially in Great Britain are currently undergoing. With a flick of his pen, he highlights educational philosophies and movements from Locke and Rousseau through the battle between humanities and science of C. P. Snow whose polemics he decries. But this is used as a catalyst for his own thoughts on education. We must first consider what literacy means in our technological age with the immanent rise of "artificial intelligence" and the ubiquity of the internet.
Steiner concludes that "the hope of preserving or resuscitating humanistic literacy in any traditional mode" is illusory. Yet, he goes on to suggest a "utopian" plan or outline of a core curriculum that will provide to arouse the "awareness interactive with the demands and fascination of the world". (p 151)
He calls this plan a new "quadrivium" of mathematics, music, architecture, and the life sciences. Aimed at challenging the senses to "embody an incommensurable potential for fun, play, and aesthetic delight. Homo ludens is enlisted to the turbulent heart of his being." (p 159) This is heady stuff as utopian plans often are. But it is exciting and challenging as George Steiner engages with the reader in sharing ideas in these notes for his "unwritten books". For even greater stimulation I would encourage readers to engage in his written books. His works are part of my own partially realized ideal library. By this I mean the sort of ideal that is characterized best by Alberto Manguel in another of his fascinating books, A Reader on Reading, where he writes:
"The ideal library is meant for one particular reader. Every reader must feel that he or she is the chosen one." "The ideal library (like every library) holds at least one line that has been written exclusively for you."
"We can imagine the books we'd like to read, even if they have not yet been written, and we can imagine libraries full of books we would like to possess, even if the are well beyond our reach, because we enjoy dreaming up a library that reflects every one of our interests and every one of our foibles--a library that, in its variety and complexity, fully reflects the reader we are."
This idea, and I share his feelings along with the distress of finding books that I would love to have in my library but are too dear for my pocketbook, as expressed in the line "even if they have not yet been written" leads me to a wonderful book that is in my library, My Unwritten Books by George Steiner; described as a "grand master of erudition", he is a both polymath and eclectic as a thinker and writer of prose, both fictional and non-fictional.
In My Unwritten Books he imagines seven books that he did not write, but would have written if only he had not met some insurmountable physical, intellectual or psychological obstacle that prevented him from doing so. The essays describing these books are mini-books in themselves with excursions into such disparate worlds as the multiple languages of sex, the claims of Zionism, the natures of exile and a theology of emptiness.
My favorite among the essays is his personal excursion into the nature of education, "School Terms". Beginning with his own anarchic education that saw the onset of his school life with three languages while studying in Manhattan and France. All this before spending his university years at the University of Chicago and Harvard and completing his graduate work at Oxford. He contrasts the differences between education in France (orderly) and America (anarchic) and moves on to a brief commentary on some of the changes that these systems, especially in Great Britain are currently undergoing. With a flick of his pen, he highlights educational philosophies and movements from Locke and Rousseau through the battle between humanities and science of C. P. Snow whose polemics he decries. But this is used as a catalyst for his own thoughts on education. We must first consider what literacy means in our technological age with the immanent rise of "artificial intelligence" and the ubiquity of the internet.
Steiner concludes that "the hope of preserving or resuscitating humanistic literacy in any traditional mode" is illusory. Yet, he goes on to suggest a "utopian" plan or outline of a core curriculum that will provide to arouse the "awareness interactive with the demands and fascination of the world". (p 151)
He calls this plan a new "quadrivium" of mathematics, music, architecture, and the life sciences. Aimed at challenging the senses to "embody an incommensurable potential for fun, play, and aesthetic delight. Homo ludens is enlisted to the turbulent heart of his being." (p 159) This is heady stuff as utopian plans often are. But it is exciting and challenging as George Steiner engages with the reader in sharing ideas in these notes for his "unwritten books". For even greater stimulation I would encourage readers to engage in his written books. His works are part of my own partially realized ideal library. By this I mean the sort of ideal that is characterized best by Alberto Manguel in another of his fascinating books, A Reader on Reading, where he writes:
"The ideal library is meant for one particular reader. Every reader must feel that he or she is the chosen one." "The ideal library (like every library) holds at least one line that has been written exclusively for you."
July 11, 2009
I called Raymond Tallis an über-intellectual in my other review. I should have waited to read George Steiner. I’d never heard of him, but apparently he’s “one of the world’s foremost intellectuals” – and an avowed elitist. He’s written quite a few books – respeck if you’ve read any of them – but this book is a collection of seven essays, each about a books that he didn’t write for some personal reason.
Wading through Steiner’s difficult prose and impossibly highbrow commentaries and references, I liked a few of the essays – the development of the subject and why he didn’t write the book – but I don’t think I would read any of those books had he written any of them. In the essay Begging the Question he claims that he’s avoided revealing his political views because of “an almost pathological revulsion at the curtailment of privacy in modern life.” But in The Tongues of Eros he reveals such salacious (and some could say deviant) personal anecdotes that I’m sure many will find the essay vulgar and offensive.
Wading through Steiner’s difficult prose and impossibly highbrow commentaries and references, I liked a few of the essays – the development of the subject and why he didn’t write the book – but I don’t think I would read any of those books had he written any of them. In the essay Begging the Question he claims that he’s avoided revealing his political views because of “an almost pathological revulsion at the curtailment of privacy in modern life.” But in The Tongues of Eros he reveals such salacious (and some could say deviant) personal anecdotes that I’m sure many will find the essay vulgar and offensive.
May 1, 2013
Uma maravilha.
O simples facto de uma mente brilhante, de alguma maneira, assumir a sua inabilidade para tratar convenientemente determinados assuntos é, no mínimo, desafiante para quem lê.
Percebe-se a imensidão que é a "cabeça" deste homem. Sendo um livro constituído por 7 "pequenos" ensaios sobre outros tantos temas, o desfile de interrogações é maciço e sufocante.
Os temas são tão diversos quanto surpreendentes: a experiência do sexo em línguas diferentes, as reivindicações do sionismo, um amor mais intenso pelos animais do que pelos seres humanos, o privilégio dispendioso do exílio, a teologia do vazio, o ensino, a China e Joseph Needham.
É um livro que, mais do que solucionar, interroga. Natural num professor. É o que na minha opinião deve fazer um professor: interrogar e, com a mesma força, motivar a procura autónoma de respostas.
George Steiner fá-lo de forma magistral. É um livro que eu recomendaria a toda a gente; quem sabe, até, fazê-lo leitura obrigatória nas escolas?!?!
O simples facto de uma mente brilhante, de alguma maneira, assumir a sua inabilidade para tratar convenientemente determinados assuntos é, no mínimo, desafiante para quem lê.
Percebe-se a imensidão que é a "cabeça" deste homem. Sendo um livro constituído por 7 "pequenos" ensaios sobre outros tantos temas, o desfile de interrogações é maciço e sufocante.
Os temas são tão diversos quanto surpreendentes: a experiência do sexo em línguas diferentes, as reivindicações do sionismo, um amor mais intenso pelos animais do que pelos seres humanos, o privilégio dispendioso do exílio, a teologia do vazio, o ensino, a China e Joseph Needham.
É um livro que, mais do que solucionar, interroga. Natural num professor. É o que na minha opinião deve fazer um professor: interrogar e, com a mesma força, motivar a procura autónoma de respostas.
George Steiner fá-lo de forma magistral. É um livro que eu recomendaria a toda a gente; quem sabe, até, fazê-lo leitura obrigatória nas escolas?!?!
January 19, 2011
I can't remember where I heard about this, but I grabbed it when I saw it in Poundland! And what a pound well spent.
A challenging read. Wordy and at times threatening to lose me, but well worth persevering with. Steiner writes with faith and passion and even when dealing with things I didn't know I cared about he pulled me in. My favourite chapters were those about animal, education and love in other languages. I think more people could benefit from condensing their ideas in this way, rather than filling entire books with rather stretched premises.
At times I was almost cheering at the thought that someone else out there shared some of the same beliefs as me. And I can sleep a little easier at night, knowing there are intelligent minds still out there somewhere keeping the flame of knowledge, unashamed knowledge alight!
A challenging read. Wordy and at times threatening to lose me, but well worth persevering with. Steiner writes with faith and passion and even when dealing with things I didn't know I cared about he pulled me in. My favourite chapters were those about animal, education and love in other languages. I think more people could benefit from condensing their ideas in this way, rather than filling entire books with rather stretched premises.
At times I was almost cheering at the thought that someone else out there shared some of the same beliefs as me. And I can sleep a little easier at night, knowing there are intelligent minds still out there somewhere keeping the flame of knowledge, unashamed knowledge alight!
August 22, 2013
I've never met Professor Steiner, although I'd recognize him in a moment. Perhaps a different name, but the ivory tower follows one across the seas and throughout the land. I love to learn, and I'm thrilled by intellectual stimulation. Similar to a sexual experience, it's generally improved by two souls who genuinely love each other. When one of those players exudes an impression that his participation makes yours transcendent, the union is rather hollow. Which is what this book did for me. I tried to lie back and give him the benefit if the doubt, convincing myself I'd be a better person for respecting his intellect, but he didn't need me in the slightest. A few TED talks brought me back--which I recommend to any other jilted readers ;0,
September 22, 2014
Zeven boeken die Steiner wel wilde schrijven maar welke om verschillende redenen nooit geschreven zijn. In plaats daarvan vormt hij elk idee om naar een 30-pagina's lang hoofdstuk in dit boek. Aan het einde van elk hoofdstuk vertelt George waarom hij het boek nooit schreef: schaamte, te ingewikkeld, etc. Aan de ene kant zitten er een paar echte pareltjes tussen de 7 'boeken', maar tegelijkertijd zijn er ook een of twee hoofdstukken wat vermoeiender en begrijp je waarom hij die niet uitgebreider heeft beschreven.
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