Reviews
'the book has strong claims to the status of modern classic: a sometimes spiky, sometimes mercilessly dense text'Independent on Sunday, "[Steiner's] ideas display even-handedness, seriousness without heaviness, learning without pedantry, and sober charm."--Naomi Bliven,The New Yorker "Great erudition brought to bear on linguistics...celebrates the beauty and mystery of the subject."--The New York Times Book Review, 'Translation ... has long needed a champion, and at last in George Steinerit has found a scholar who is a match for the task.' Maurice Cranston, SundayTimes, "[Steiner's] ideas display even-handedness, seriousness without heaviness, learning without pedantry, and sober charm."--Naomi Bliven, The New Yorker "Great erudition brought to bear on linguistics...celebrates the beauty and mystery of the subject."--The New York Times Book Review, Translation ... has long needed a champion, and at last in George Steiner it has found a scholar who is a match for the task., 'A work of the first importance ... It opens new regions of comparativeenquiry which promise some vital renewals of perception.' Philosophy andLiterature, "[Steiner's] ideas display even-handedness, seriousness without heaviness, learning without pedantry, and sober charm."--Naomi Bliven, The New Yorker"Great erudition brought to bear on linguistics...celebrates the beauty and mystery of the subject."--The New York Times Book Review, 'A masterly and impressive work' Jan Marsh, Daily Telegraph'A work of the first importance ... It opens new regions of comparative enquiry which promise some vital renewals of perception.' Philosophy and Literature'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'This was the most challenging book on translation since the 18th century.'The Times'the book has strong claims to the status of modern classic: a sometimes spiky, sometimes mercilessly dense text'Independent on Sunday, 'A work of the first importance ... It opens new regions of comparative enquiry which promise some vital renewals of perception.' Philosophy and Literature, '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, 'the book has strong claims to the status of modern classic: a sometimesspiky, sometimes mercilessly dense text'Independent on Sunday
Synopsis
First published in 1975, After Babel constituted the first systematic investigation of the theory and processes of translation since the eighteenth century. Both controversial and seminal, it has given rise to a considerable body of secondary literature. For the second edition, George Steiner entirely revised the text, added new and expanded notes, provided a substantially updated bibliography , and wrote a new preface setting the book in the present context of hermeneutics, poetics, and translation studies., 'Translation has long needed a champion, and at last in George Steiner it has found a scholar who is a match for the task.' Sunday Times First published in 1975, After Babel constituted the first systematic investigation of the theory and processes of translation since the eighteenth century. In mapping out its own field, it quickly established itself as both controversial and seminal, and gave rise to a considerable, and still-growing, body of secondary literature. Even today, with its status as a modern classic beyond question, many of the books insights remain provocative and challenging. For the second edition of After Babel, George Steiner entirely revised the text, added new and expanded notes, provided a substantially updated bibliography (including much Russian and Eastern European material), and wrote a new preface setting the book in the present context of hermeneutics, poetics, and translation studies. 'Steiner's subject is extravagantly rich and he ponders it on the most generous scale...his language and his ideas display even-handedness, seriousness without heaviness, learning without pedantry, and sober charm.' New Yorker, When it first appeared in 1975, After Babel created a sensation, quickly establishing itself as both a controversial and seminal study of literary theory. In the original edition, Steiner provided readers with the first systematic investigation since the eighteenth century of the phenomenology and processes of translation both inside and between languages. Taking issue with the principal emphasis of modern linguistics, he finds the root of the "Babel problem" in our deep instinct for privacy and territory, noting 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. For the long-awaited second edition, Steiner entirely revised the text, added new and expanded notes, and wrote a new preface setting the work in the present context of hermeneutics, poetics, and translation studies. This new edition brings the bibliography up to the present with substantially updated references, including much Russian and Eastern European material. Like the towering figures of Derrida, Lacan, and Foucault, Steiner's work is central to current literary thought. After Babel, Third Edition is essential reading for anyone hoping to understand the debates raging in the academy today.
