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My Unwritten Books Paperback – 22 April 2014

by George Steiner (Author)

4.4 28 ratings

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Steiner did not write the books 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 taboos: the torment of the gifted when they live among the very great; the experience of sex in different languages; Zionism; a more intense love for animals than for human beings; the costly privilege of exile; a theology of emptiness.

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Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

New Directions
Publication date

22 April 2014
Dimensions

13.21 x 1.78 x 20.32 cm
ISBN-10

0811217930
ISBN-13

978-0811217934
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Product description

Review

The polymath's polymath. The erudition is almost as extraordinary as the prose.-- "The New York Times Book Review"

A late, late, late Renaissance man... a European metaphysician with an instinct for the driving ideas of our time.--A. S. Byatt

About the Author

Extraordinary Fellow of Churchill College at Cambridge University and the author of dozens of books (The Death of Tragedy, After Babel, Martin Heidegger, In Bluebeard's Castle), George Steiner is one of the world's foremost intellectuals.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ New Directions; Reprint edition (22 April 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0811217930
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0811217934
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.21 x 1.78 x 20.32 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 3,140,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 22,065 in Essays, Journals & Letters
- 333,941 in Biographies & Memoirs (Books)

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4.4 28 ratings

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Paul F.

Quirky but thought provoking.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 February 2015

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When purchasing a book like this it should satisfy two criteria, to teach you something new and to make you think. This book containing a number of essays does both. There are too many writers who revel in their own brilliance, trying to prove to one and all that the rarefied sphere they inhabit is way beyond that achieved by mere mortals. George Steiner is not one of those, hopefully soon to be extinct, breed; his works are easily accessible whilst not "dumbing down" the topic under discussion. Of course there are some statements he makes that you may disagree with but, as I stated previously, at least he makes you think which is of far more importance.

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Mal Smith

A really interesting read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 December 2008

In reply to Elberry: I don't know Steiner's work, but that didn't stop me reading this one from beginning to end, and heartily enjoying every chapter. Unlike for Elberry the sex and dog chapters were not my favourites, although I enjoyed them. I most appreciated his chapters on living with being second rate, and on the state of education world-wide. Being British, I found the comparisons of British education with that in France and the USA enlightening. He is spot on in deriding the specialisation that is forced upon bright British kids at too young an age. Having been forced down the science path, I really need humanists like Steiner to give me some balance!

Djmottershead is right in suggesting that Steiner packs in much erudition and 'book dropping'. But I did not 'laugh at' Steiner for this, but 'with him'. It's a joyful erudition! And he can also be moving and very informative. Steiner does point out his own abilities and interests. Any why not? Also, I'm not a 'fellow academic' and I felt he was talking to me and any other reasonably well-read person. I can't see how Djmottershead can say he doesn't communicate feelings effectively! Just read the dog chapter! Almost too much feeling there. There's nothing 'pseudo' about this intellectual. He's the real deal, if anyone is.

The review by 'Concerned' is totally misplaced. There is nothing in the book that insults Jamaicans or any other race, and his comments (in the book) are anti-racist. For example: "Racism ... is inadmissible rubbish. Moreover, insist modern biology and genetics, the mere concept of racial purity or impurity is nothing but dangerous nonsense." (p.92)

But the Telegraph article was interesting! In his defence, he doesn't say that all Jamaicans have six children and play loud music. He suggests that *if* a Jamaican family moved next door and *if* it had six children *and* played loud music *then* latent racism might be brought out. Steiner's comment makes it more likely that one will see the latent racism in oneself and (hopefully) try and defuse it. Anyway, a Telegraph article is too short to reveal Steiner's rounded views, probably why he refused to comment further. Read his book to really grasp what Steiner thinks about racism, and to see that he is not at all cranky!

7 people found this helpful

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Elberry

a fine book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 March 2008

A bold work, akin to Steiner's memoir Errata but paradoxically much more personal than the earlier work. Here, Steiner outlines the books he wanted to write; i can't help but feel these concise and quite shameless chapters are actually the best medium for these ideas, these problematic fragments. My favourites would be the unexpectedly brazen chapter on sexuality & language, and the very honest & warm chapter on animals. As a dober-fan, Steiner's feelings for dogkind move me, and make me smile.

This book probably won't appeal to anyone who doesn't know Steiner's work, but to those with a taste for his thought & prose, it will doubtless be a great pleasure.

5 people found this helpful

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Djmottershead

Unintentially funny and then intentionally moving.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 August 2008

I laughed at loud at the beginning. Steiner packs so much erudition and 'book' dropping into each line that the effect is humourous. Then, when you least expect it, he can be moving and very informative. Steiner seems to be making a point about his own abilities and interests but his target audience seems too often to be himself and his coterie of fellow academics. I longed at time for him to communicate feelings and ideas effectively. However, too often he puts the 'pseudo' into the pseudo-intellectual.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Lost in Siberia

The ache that drives the art that elevates.

Reviewed in the United States on 4 February 2015

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George Steiner's prose sometimes raises the expository to the poetic, to the level of the best art, has sometimes on its own terms the resonance, density, depth, etc., of a Shostakovich movement, a passage by Proust or Kafka or T.S. Eliot, and etc.; and I have not in recent years met a better up-to-date description, assessment, evocation of where we are now, how and what we are now, in the big sense, the grandest theoria or most privileged view, than this book's final essay "Begging the Question" on what Steiner calls (page 201) "the ache ... the hunger at the heart of us ..."

In the same essay (page 195) Steiner writes, "At best, I think of myself as a Platonic anarchist. It is not a winning ticket." I hope he soon writes more on that.

3 people found this helpful

Hernando Valencia-Villa

The swan song of a master writer and thinker

Reviewed in the United States on 16 February 2008

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George Steiner's "My unwritten books" in the swan song of a master writer and thinker, perhaps the greatest living man of letters of our time. Deeply learned and brilliantly written, the book itself is a tour de force because gathers seven essays which turn around seven "unwritten books". This may be a rhetorical device to share pretty original and moving reflections with his readers, but the author's accomplishment is magnificent. Steiner is the world's leading literary sage and he deserves the Nobel prize and more.

5 people found this helpful

Cliente de Amazon

Glad to have it now again and to be able ...

Reviewed in the United States on 14 May 2016

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Bought it years ago, read it and gave it to a friend. Deeply regretted this generous gesture. Glad to have it now again and to be able to read it whenever I like!

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My Unwritten Books Paperback – 22 April 2014

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