After Babel

Fülszöveg

George Steiner presents the fi rst systematic investigation of the phenomenology and processes of translation inside language and between languages since the eighteenth century. Taking issue with the principal emphasis of modern linguistics, Steiner finds the root of the "Babel problem" in our deep instinct for privacy and territory. He notes that every people has, in its language, a unique body of shared secrecy. With this provocative thesis he analyzes every aspect of translation, from fundamental conditions of interpretation to the most intricate of linguistic constructions. "Dr. Steiner's subject is extravagantly rich and he ponders it on the most generous scale ... He is frequently ironic and witty, but for the most part his language and his ideas display even-handed ness, seriousness without heaviness, learning without pedantry, and sober charm." -Naomi Bliven, The New Yorker "He is saying things we cannot afford not to take note of... I greatly admire the intellectual venture... Tovább

Fülszöveg

George Steiner presents the fi rst systematic investigation of the phenomenology and processes of translation inside language and between languages since the eighteenth century. Taking issue with the principal emphasis of modern linguistics, Steiner finds the root of the "Babel problem" in our deep instinct for privacy and territory. He notes that every people has, in its language, a unique body of shared secrecy. With this provocative thesis he analyzes every aspect of translation, from fundamental conditions of interpretation to the most intricate of linguistic constructions. "Dr. Steiner's subject is extravagantly rich and he ponders it on the most generous scale ... He is frequently ironic and witty, but for the most part his language and his ideas display even-handed ness, seriousness without heaviness, learning without pedantry, and sober charm." -Naomi Bliven, The New Yorker "He is saying things we cannot afford not to take note of... I greatly admire the intellectual venture which this book represents." -Donald Davie, Times Literary Supplement (London) "As a critic, Dr. Steiner is an original, rather like the Ancient Mariner. Arresting one with a glittering, bold thought, he draws one into expositions of deep and diverse illumination ... A masterly and impressive work." -Jan Marsh, Daily Telegraph (London) "Translation ... has long needed a champion, and at last in George Steiner it has found a scholar who is a match for the task." -Maurice Cranston, Sunday Times (London) "Great erudition brought to bear on linguistics... celebrates the beauty and mystery of the subject." -"Editor's Choice," The New York Times Book Review GEORGE STEINER, Extraordinary Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, and Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Geneva, is the author of such major works as The Death of Tragedy, Language and Silence, and In Bluebeard's Castle. Winner of the Zabel Prize of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, he has been a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, Gauss Lecturer at Princeton University, Albert Schweitzer Visiting Professor at New York University, and a visiting professor at Yale University. The cover illustration by Peter Bruegel the Elder 'The Tower of Babel' is reproduced by kind permission of the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen at Rotterdam. Vissza