Lekcia Majstra po Bábeli
The Lesson of the Master after Babel

Thequestions of language and translation in Steiner´s work Lesson of the Masters

Summary/Abstract: The study brings the analysis of the work Lesson of the Masters (2003) by George Steiner who has been often described as a “polyglot observer“, “cosmopolitan comparatist“ or “sad thinker“ of the 20th and 21st century in the field of the literary science, philology, translation studies, culturology and philosophy. It represents a published volume of essays which are a recorded version of Charles Eliot Norton´s lectures presented by G. Steiner at Harvard university in 2001/2002. The genre of lectures converges with the genre of essay in one point: it reveals the vigorous, pulsating character of the author´s utterance reflecting the provisional (open to change), ongoing character of Steiner´s thinking and the unprecedented originality of his intellect. The study describes Steiner´s idiolect in the light of concepts and theoretical postulates presented in Steiner’s work After Babel. Aspects of Language and Translation (1975). In the theoretical works there is an agreement on the central position and intellectual-historical relevance of this work in the field of translational studies as well as philological and linguistic investigations. The study illustrates the basic features of Steiner´s discursive gesture and it tries to explain how these qualities reflect the tenets of his framework called as Translational Hermeneutics. It focuses on the intertextual, allusive aspects of Steiner´s work as well as the character of his syntax which helps to explain the singularity and peculiarity of his style.

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