George Steiner

George Steiner
Steiner speaking at the Nexus Institute, the Netherlands, 2013
Steiner speaking at the Nexus Institute, the Netherlands, 2013
BornFrancis George Steiner
(1929-04-23)April 23, 1929
Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
DiedFebruary 3, 2020(2020-02-03) (aged 90)
Cambridge, England
Occupation
NationalityFrench, American
EducationUniversity of Chicago (BA)
Harvard University (MA)
Balliol College, Oxford (DPhil)
Period1960–2020
GenreHistory, literature, literary fiction
Notable worksAfter Babel (1975)
Notable awardsTruman Capote Lifetime Achievement Award (1998)
Spouse
​
(m. 1955)​
[1]
Children2

Francis George Steiner,[2] FBA (April 23, 1929 – February 3, 2020)[3][4] was a Franco-American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist and educator.[5] He wrote extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, as well as the impact of the Holocaust.[6] A 2001 article in The Guardian described Steiner as a "polyglot and polymath".[7]

Among his admirers, Steiner is ranked "among the great minds in today's literary world".[3] 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".[7] Harriet Harvey-Wood, a former literature director of the British Council, described him as a "magnificent lecturer – prophetic and doom-laden [who would] turn up with half a page of scribbled notes, and never refer to them".[7]

Steiner was Professor of English and Comparative Literature in the University of Geneva (1974–94), Professor of Comparative Literature and Fellow in the University of Oxford (1994–95), Professor of Poetry in Harvard University (2001–02) and an Extraordinary Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge.[2]

  1. ^ Schudel, Matt (February 16, 2020). "Zara Steiner, distinguished scholar of diplomatic history, dies at 91". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "The Papers of George Steiner". Archivesearch. Retrieved 6 October 2021. [Steiner] has not used the name Francis since his undergraduate days.
  3. ^ a b Hahn, Daniel. "George Steiner". Contemporary Writers in the UK. Archived from the original on October 1, 2007. Retrieved March 26, 2008.
  4. ^ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher; Grimes, William (February 3, 2020). "George Steiner, Prodigious Literary Critic, Dies at 90". The New York Times. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  5. ^ Murphy, Rex. "ERRATA: An Examined Life by George Steiner". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, January 3, 1998. Archived from the original on January 24, 2008. Retrieved March 26, 2008.
  6. ^ Cheyette, Bryan. "Between Repulsion and Attraction: George Steiner's Post-Holocaust Fiction". Jewish Social Studies. Archived from the original on February 18, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2008.
  7. ^ a b c Jaggi, Maya (March 17, 2001). "George and his dragons". The Guardian. London. Retrieved March 27, 2008.