Errata: An Examined Life [Paperback]

Mr. George Steiner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 11, 1999

George Steiner, one of the great literary minds of our century, here relates the story of his own life and the ways that people, places, and events have colored the central ideas and themes of his work. Brilliant and witty, his memoir reveals Steiner`s thoughts on the meaning of the western tradition and its philosophic and religious premises.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"It happens to be blindingly obvious to me that study, theological-philosophic argument, classical music, poetry, art, all that is 'difficult because it is excellent'... are the excuse for life." It is this postulate that reigns supreme throughout the eminent literary critic's latest book. The subtitle to the work implies an autobiography of some sort, but those who come to this slender volume with that notion will be disappointed. Steiner knows that real life is the life of the mind, and so he dazzles his readers with the raison d'etre of his passionate existence. Each chapter exists as a separate essay, and each essay is witty and rewarding. Steiner argues for the benefits of classical education, the underestimated importance of grammar, the supremacy of classical music. What little autobiographical information there is?snapshots of an upper-class childhood in Vienna, Paris and New York, praise for overzealous instructors, cold nods to jealous academics at Oxford and Chicago?only prefaces meditations on that which Steiner holds to be true and most dear, as when a description of his own trilingual life leads us to a discussion of the Babel myth, the power of language and the important role of the future tense in the drama of humanity. One would think that this might distance the reader from the author as subject; on the contrary, it allows us an intimate and captivating glimpse into Steiner's mind and thought.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This is ostensibly a memoir by the noted critic, scholar, and novelist Steiner, a professor of English and comparative literature at Cambridge and the University of Geneva and author of many books, most recently No Passion Spent (LJ, 4/1/96). In a series of elegant and thoughtful essays, he traces important episodes in his intellectual growth and passion for high culture and learning, first inculcated by his father. At the same time, and more significantly, Steiner uses these episodes as the occasion for a series of meditations on the nature of literary studies, higher education, language, and music. He also contemplates the origins of anti-Semitism and the survival of Judaism. Provocative and profound, this fine work is recommended for both public and academic libraries.?Thomas L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Coll., Savannah, Ga.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 214 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (October 11, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300080956
• ISBN-13: 978-0300080957
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #977,295 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a profound, passionate and humane thinker, August 11, 2000

By 

Ian K. Hughes (San Mateo, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Errata: An Examined Life (Paperback)

First off, I should mention that I'm new to the work of George Steiner and this review will perhaps be most helpful to other newcomers. Having spent the better part of the past 20 years immersing myself in music ( of varying types ) I've recently found myself being drawn to the world of literature. Although by no means ignorant of the basic literary "classics" ( Bible, Homer, Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, etc ), I make these prefatory comments only to point out that I am certainly NOT an exceptionally well-read person and don't wish to imply my thoughts should count for more than what they are; namely, those of an interested "common reader".

My interest in George Steiner stems from reading several of his essays. Moved by his graceful and substantive style, I set out upon his recent "ERRATA", which, although it contains threads of an autobiographical nature, seems to me to be just a more personal interweaving of the themes he plays with in his essays. Steiner, while an immensely well-read and cultured man ( fluent in at least 5 languages ), displays a knack for a mellifluous prose which neither condescends for the "benefit" of the less knowledgeable reader nor imposes a convolution of word jumbling just for the sake of being clever. He is passionately interested in the "what, how and why" of life, not just in dusting off a corner of literary history ( though he certainly would be capable of spinning a monograph on any one of dozens of literary/philosophical figures from the past 3000 years of human history ). A palpable humility coupled with a thirst for knowledge and "transcendence" shines through "ERRATA". One learns of the event which proved to be the decisive moment setting Steiner on the path to teaching- an all night "study session" in which Steiner, as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago in the late 1940's, read and expounded upon Joyce's "The Dead" to an emotionally moved audience made up of people 5 to 10 years older than him. His 16 page chapter ( 6 ) on music is, from my perspective as a person obsessed with music, one of the finest pieces I've ever read on the "poetics" of music, whether by musician or non-musician. The following chapter on language is equally profound. I have no idea what people immersed in scholarly fields would think of his work. From where I stand, his perspectives shed light, expand the mind and renew one's commitment to pursue those aspects of humanity which remains its greatest hope.

I sincerely hope Mr. Steiner continues to share his thoughts. His profound and passionate insights, so beautifully imprinted in "ERRATA", are needed as we live through an era all too often emphasizing media-driven glamour and technological innovation at the expense of aesthetic and spiritual substance.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At the top of western culture, February 18, 2002

By 

nadav haber (jerusalem Israel) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Errata: An Examined Life (Paperback)

To me, Erata is a display of the best qualities of Western culture. Steiner is as knowledgable in European cultural Classic as there is. He is in love with European classical music, with European literature - ancient and new, with philosophy, poetry and more. He loves Western cultural achievements without showing any disrespect for Asian, African or other non-European cultures. Of these he has some superficial knowledge - but he does not pretend otherwise.
Steiner's attempts to define in words the importance of art is illuminating. This is especially true in his discourses on the essence of music - he knows it can not be defined in words, but his words did contribute to my perceptions and did have their own positive effect.
Throughout - Erata shines with humanism and love (are they not the same after all ?). It is not really an autobiography - it is more of a story someone tells of the things he feels have made his life worthwhile.
I know a few people that read Erata - they all took something from the book - each according to his/her own needs and circumstances. Therefore I feel safe to recommend it to anyone who loves life.

24 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amateurism's most beloved sense, July 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Errata: An Examined Life (Hardcover)

Short first sentence. A sentence immediately following, full of syllables and possibilities; often a semi-colon is included, to enjamb an extra layer of thought. A sentence which works its way toward unifying the three thoughts, but with a foreign phrase or intellectual reference, say to deus ex machina, to Elias Canetti. And a conclusion, always ironic and chancy, but hurled down at you to your lesser little plot of literary land, as though from Delphi to a swineherd. Which takes you to the next sentence. The topic sentence of the following paragraph is always a phrase left over from the one preceding. This is the way Steiner--earth's most extraordinary amateur reader--writes. I began mimicking this style when I was in college, to excellent success and occasional trouble, so I know the style by heart. And here, twenty years after After Babel, I finally have an opportunity to pay attention to the man behind the curtain and take a look into how the style--the style that did such service my own style--emerged. I am not at all shocked. Steiner, ever the champion of the canon and pedigree, begins life with an obsession for heraldry. His father tempts him with Greek as a dessert (Churchill, curiously and similarly, once said he would offer Greek to boys as a treat). He begins his book with a memory of the feel and smell of rain--he is surrenduring to Proust, and also to love of reading. Familiar Steiner themes emerge: the interanimation of text, the human hopelessness of ever getting to the bottom of the text, the critic's pathetic role. It is all amateurism in its most favorable and beloved sense. Not to be an amateur--not to love, to adore brilliant books--is to miss the point of it all. But then again, we are all ever missing the point, and all things are equal again. Matters of taste our, as Steiner has quoted elsewhere, non disputandum; and then he tries like hell to make sure all of our tastes are immaculate. This is Errata. After all has been written, the scintillating li! nguistic forays, the novel, the New Yorker reviews, it is the titling this book is the most artful, ironic, and canon-worthy stroke that Steiner has ever accomplished. Ever the lover of literature, ever suspicious of the precious postmodern, he is now through the looking glass, a postmodern museum-piece himself. It is, as Steiner would have it, were he allowed to see Steiner from outside Steiner--were he allowed to see Steiner the way we see Steiner--the ultimate irony.