George Steiner-one of the preeminent essayists and literary thinkers of our era-here addresses issues of language and the relation of language to literature and to religion. He covers a wide range of subjects, from Homer, Shakespeare, Kafka, Kierkegaard, and Simone Weil to Jewish scripture, religious tradition, and the effects of the Holocaust. At a time when the art of reading and the status of text are threatened, Steiner affirms the primacy of reading in the classical sense.