After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation

George Steiner's essential tome on linguistics, hailed by the New York Times as a "dazzling inquiry into the possibility of translation"In his classic work, literary critic and scholar George Steiner tackles what he considers the Babel "problem": Why, over the course of history, have humans developed thousands of different languages when the social, material, and economic advantages of a single tongue are obvious? Steiner argues that different cultures' desires for privacy and exclusivity led to each developing its own language. Translation, he believes, is at the very heart of human communica.
Abstract: George Steiner's essential tome on linguistics, hailed by the New York Times as a "dazzling inquiry into the possibility of translation"In his classic work, literary critic and scholar George Steiner tackles what he considers the Babel "problem": Why, over the course of history, have humans developed thousands of different languages when the social, material, and economic advantages of a single tongue are obvious? Steiner argues that different cultures' desires for privacy and exclusivity led to each developing its own language. Translation, he believes, is at the very heart of human communica