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George Steiner

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George Steiner

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Also known as Francis George Steiner

American writer (1928–2020)

Key facts

Born
Francis George Steiner , ( 1929-04-23 ) April 23, 1929, Neuilly-sur-Seine , France
Died
February 3, 2020 (2020-02-03) (aged 90), Cambridge , England
Occupation
Author essayist literary critic professor
Education
University of Chicago ( BA ), Harvard University ( MA ), Balliol College, Oxford ( DPhil )
Period
1960–2014
Genre
History, literature, literary fiction
Notable works
After Babel (1975)
Notable awards
Truman Capote Lifetime Achievement Award (1998)
Spouse
Zara Shakow ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1955 ) ​

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
George
Family name
Steiner
Gender
male
Citizenship
United Kingdom
Place of birth
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Place of death
Cambridge
Languages spoken
English language
Native language
French
Religion
Judaism
Academic degree
doctorate
Image
George Steiner 2013 (cropped).jpg
Number of children
2
Show 8 more facts
date of birth
1929-04-23
Commons category
George Steiner
name in native language
George Steiner
date of death
2020-02-03
interested in
Jewish question
birth name
Francis George Nathaniel Steiner
Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Encyclopedic overview

Francis George Steiner, FBA (April 23, 1929 – February 3, 2020) was a French and American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist and educator. He wrote extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, as well as the impact of the Holocaust. A 2001 article in The Guardian described Steiner as a "polyglot and polymath".

To his admirers, Steiner is "among the great minds in today's literary world". English novelist A. S. Byatt described him as a "late, late, late Renaissance man ... a European metaphysician with an instinct for the driving ideas of our time". Harriet Harvey-Wood, a former literature director of the British Council, described him as a "magnificent lecturer – prophetic and doom-laden [who would] turn up with half a page of scribbled notes, and never refer to them".

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “George Steiner” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.