About this ebook
Renowned scholar George Steiner explores the power and presence of the unseen in art. "It takes someone of [his] stature to tackle this theme head-on" ( The New York Times).
There is a philosophical school of thought that believes the presence of God in art, literature, and music—in creativity in general—is a vacant metaphor, an eroded figure of speech, a ghost in humanity's common parlance. George Steiner posits the opposite—that any coherent understanding of language and art, any capacity to communicate meaning and feeling, is premised on God. In doing so, he argues against the kind of criticism that obscures, instead of elucidates, meaning. From the power of language to vital philosophical tenets, Real Presences examines the role of meaning and of the spiritual in art throughout history and across cultures.
There is a philosophical school of thought that believes the presence of God in art, literature, and music—in creativity in general—is a vacant metaphor, an eroded figure of speech, a ghost in humanity's common parlance. George Steiner posits the opposite—that any coherent understanding of language and art, any capacity to communicate meaning and feeling, is premised on God. In doing so, he argues against the kind of criticism that obscures, instead of elucidates, meaning. From the power of language to vital philosophical tenets, Real Presences examines the role of meaning and of the spiritual in art throughout history and across cultures.
Renowned scholar George Steiner explores the power and presence of the unseen in art. "It takes someone of [his] stature to tackle this theme head-on" ( The New York Times).
There is a philosophical school of thought that believes the presence of God in art, literature, and music—in creativity ...
About the author
George Steiner, author of dozens of books (including The Death of Tragedy, After Babel, Martin Heidegger, In Bluebeard's Castle, My Unwritten Books, George Steiner at the New Yorker, and The Poetry of Thought), is one of the world's foremost intellectuals. He has been professor emeritus of English and comparative literature at the University of Geneva, professor of comparative literature and fellow at the University of Oxford, and professor of poetry at Harvard University. He lives in Cambridge, England, where he has been an Extraordinary Fellow at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge since 1969.
George Steiner, author of dozens of books (including The Death of Tragedy, After Babel, Martin Heidegger, In Bluebeard's Castle, My Unwritten Books, George Steiner at the New Yorker, and The Poetry of Thought), is one of the world's foremost intellectuals. He has been professor emeritus of Englis...
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