George Steiner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Steiner) has enjoyed a spectacular academic career, teaching in many prestigious institutions and writing voluminously. He is a comparative literary critic and polymath.
This is an anthology of his writings between 1978-1996. Topics covered are the Hebrew Bible, Homer, Shakespeare, tragedy, Simone Weil, Saint-Simone, Peguy, Husserl, dreams, Kafka, Kierkegaard, tautology, the two suppers (those of Socrates and Christ) and his famous essay about ‘real presences’. Reading Steiner always makes one feel seriously under-educated and one must be impressed by his dazzling erudition. A fine, fine read.
George Steiner
444 pages in Yale University Press paperback edition.
ISBN 978-0300074406