Le Antigoni

by George Steiner, Nicoletta Marini (Translator)

"L'Antigone di Sofocle non è un 'testo qualunque'. E' una delle azioni durature e canoniche nella storia della nostra coscienza filosofica, letteraria e politica. Al centro di questo libro si trova l'abbozzo di un tentativo di rispondere a una domanda: Perché una manciata di miti greci antichi continua a dare la sua forma vitale alla nostra percezione di noi stessi e del mondo? Perché le 'Antigoni' sono davvero 'éternelles' e direttamente rilevanti al momento presente?" George Steiner mette a confronto le varie interpretazioni del mito di Antigone nella letteratura, nel pensiero critico e sulle scene, da Euripide a Brecht, da Holderlin al Living Theatre.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Philosophy, Essays, Nonfiction, Classics, Mythology, Literature

353 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 1984

About the author

George Steiner was a French and American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, and educator whose work explored the relationship between language, literature, and society, with a particular focus on the moral and cultural consequences of the Holocaust. Multilingual from an early age, Steiner grew up speaking German, English, and French, and studied the classics under his father, while overcoming a physical handicap with his mother’s encouragement. His family relocated to the United States during World War II, an experience that shaped his lifelong reflections on survival, morality, and human cruelty. He studied literature, mathematics, and physics at the University of Chicago, earned an MA at Harvard, and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. Steiner held academic posts across Europe and the United States, including Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Geneva, Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge, the first Lord Weidenfeld Professor of Comparative European Literature at Oxford, and Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard, teaching in multiple languages. A prolific writer, he produced influential works in criticism, translation studies, and fiction, including Tolstoy or Dostoevsky, The Death of Tragedy, After Babel, and The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H., blending historical insight with philosophical reflection. His essays and books explored the power and ambivalence of human language, the ethical responsibilities of literature, and the persistence of anti-Semitism, while his fiction offered imaginative examinations of moral and historical dilemmas. Steiner was celebrated for his intellectual breadth and lecturing style, described as prophetic, charismatic, and sometimes doom-laden, and he contributed extensively to journals such as The Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian, and The New Yorker. He was married to Zara Steiner, with whom he had two children, David and Deborah, both of whom pursued academic and public service careers. Steiner’s work remains widely respected for its integration of rigorous scholarship, ethical inquiry, and literary sensitivity, marking him as one of the foremost thinkers in twentieth-century literature and comparative studies.

Reviews

[Bookfreak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ο Steiner έχει εποπτεία όλου του υλικού σχετικά με την Αντιγόνη, έχει διαβάσει και κατέχει όλο το σχετικό φιλοσοφικό, φιλολογικό και κοινωνιολογικό σχολιασμό της τραγωδίας στη Δυτική σκέψη από τον 19ο αιώνα και μετά, και μας προσφέρει ένα έργο πυκνό και συναρπαστικό.

[James Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Steiner, unquestionably one of the most perceptive and linguistically sensitive of contemporary critics, offers in Antigones a major contribution to twentieth century literary criticism. In his earlier work After Babel (1975), which has already become a landmark study of language and translation, Steiner uses the biblical metaphor of the Tower of Babel in Genesis to underscore the complex layerings of meaning surrounding a text, the fluctuating historical and cultural connotations of words which make exact translation virtually impossible. In this work he accomplishes the almost impossible task of tracing the Antigones theme in literature from the original tragedy through two milleniums of literature. A study in the act of reading while considering other arts as well suggests the transcendent quality of this work. For example, the musical presentations of this theme are discussed considering works by Mendelssohn, Saint-Saens, Orff, and Honegger. By the conclusion of the final chapter the cumulative effect of this seemingly slight work is simply overwhelming (as is much of Steiner's ouevre).

[Dolors · Rating 4 out of 5]

El mite d'Antígona m'ha fascinat des que el vaig conèixer, i tenia moltes ganes de llegir aquest llibre.

El primer capítol m'ha resultat difícil, molt tècnic i disseccionant algunes versions, amb molta atenció a la traducció - interpretació de Hölderlin que no conec.

Els dos següents es corresponen a grans trets amb un recorregut històric de les Antígones que l'autor considera més significatives el segon; i una anàlisi minuciosa de la versió de Sòfocles i la relació amb altres el tercer. Son molt més senzills de llegir amb un mínim de coneixement del mite, i els he disfrutat molt.

[Clara Obligado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steiner siempre tiene algo interesante que decir. Este libro recorre la influencia y las causas de la misma de Antígona. Por qué persiste un mito, qué encontramos aún en él.

[Bill FromPA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chapter 1 - Antigone and the 19th Century. Hegel, Kierkegaard, Goethe, Hölderlin.

Chapter 2 - Why myths? Why Greece? Are Jung's archetypes an explanation of the imagination's dependence on myth or a symptom of it? A look at the possibility that the historical basis for the myth of Antigone be found in 5th Century BC Greek history. Don Juan as the only modern myth, not Don Quixote, Hamlet (Orestes), or Faust (Prometheus).
Steiner presents a theory that myths are a kind of embodiment of language, grammatical constructs. They are therefore tied on a profound level to the act of communication itself. Steiner doesn't make a lot of this theory, though he returns to it at the very end of the book with the "hunch" that, "we speak organic vestiges of myth when we speak." This idea seems more a kind of myth itself than any seriously meant theory, since Steiner seems particularly concentrated on the Greek myths, excluding other mythological traditions though, presumably, not other languages.
Some of this chapter is devoted to different, mainly 20th century, versions of the Antigone story, in no way meant to be comprehensive. Mostly it is devoted to a discussion of the characters who aren't Antigone: Iseme, Haemon, Sentry, Messenger, the Chorus, and Creon. The little he has to say on Tiresias and Eurydice are in the next chapter.

Chapter 3 presents a generally very good close reading of the key scenes of the play. For me, Steiner credits the play with a bit more than it contains when he gets to the Antigone-Creon confrontation. He sees here a confrontation encompassing and anticipating all future confrontations in drama, which he enumerates as 5 types: male / female, old / young, society / individual, life / death, humans / gods. He does admit at least that the male / female conflict here lacks a sexual element, and refers again to the Don Juan myth post-dating the Greeks. At the very end of the book, Steiner seems dissatisfied with his work: new understandings and interpretations crowd his brain, more Antigones are being imagined, the work is never finished. Is it even properly begun?

I find Steiner a great stimulator of thought, either in agreement or dissent. His thoughts on the place of the Greek myths in the Western mind touch on some of my own reactions to my recent readings of the tragedies. Here are communications from a dawn culture, the first human speech rising from a darkness of silence; the plays speak of a rise from savagery, almost an animal existence, to a state of civilization. It's as if the tales of infanticide, incest, lex talionis, and human sacrifice are told from living memory and the dramas witness the difficult and sometimes unsuccessful effort of humankind to grow beyond them.

[Debbie Baker · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed Antigone. The majority of my reading is classics and criticism. I'm a competent reader. But this was impenetrable.

[AndreasRaptis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Αγάπη που σε λεγαν Αντιγόνη, εναλλακτικός τίτλος για το επικό μεταφιλοσοφικό δοκίμιο του υδραυλικου Στάινερ. Είμαι biased με την περιπτωση του, φθονω τις αδιανόητες γνώσεις του, λατρευω το χαλαρό αντιδιανοουμενιστικο στιλ γραφής του και υποκυπτω σε όποιο συμπέρασμα καταλήγει η σκέψη του. Εδώ αποδεικνύει ή αναδεικνύει το continuum που διέπει τη φιλοσοφική σκέψη από το Σοφοκλή και δώθε. Η αλήθεια είναι πως αν είχαν μιμηθεί τη μέθοδο του (αστειο) οι πυροβολημενοι λιακοπουλοι θα είχαν μαζέψει περισσοτερο κόσμο στο ψεκασμένο κοπαδι. Αλλά ας μη χαλάμε την ομορφιά της ανεπιτηδευτης γνώσης με γελοίους συνειρμούς.

[Stefania · Rating 5 out of 5]

Η οπτική του Σοφοκλή για την αντιστροφή του κόσμου των ζώντων και του κόσμου των νεκρών έχει προσλάβει συντριπτική επικαιρότητα για εμάς σήμερα. Πρόκειται για την νηφάλια περιγραφή ενός πλανήτη, που πάνω του οι σφαγές και ο πυρηνικός πόλεμος έχουν αφήσει αναρίθμητους άταφους νεκρούς ενώ στα υπόγεια καταφύγια, στις σπηλιές ή στις επιταγμένες κατακόμβες του οι ζωντανοί περιμένουν το τέλος τους στο σκοτάδι. Αυτή τη στιγμή οι άνθρωποι φαντάζονται,σκέφτονται,ζουν νέες Αντιγόνες,το ίδιο θα συμβαίνει και αύριο.


Υ.Γ. Και εγώ θέλω πολύ να φαντάζομαι ότι θα υπάρξουν νέοι Steiner

[Iñaki Tofiño · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have decided to teach Antigone in my introductory course to Comparative Literature and it is always a good idea to refresh one's knowledge. Steiner is an amazing scholar; not exactly trendy but a big source of information and knowledge. I have enjoyed his book very much, the way he mixes the classic text with modern readings and his own interpretations. Very inspiring and helpful.

[javisitu · Rating 4 out of 5]

si no haces tu tesis de Antígona esto es too much, pero si lo haces esto es mina de oro

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Antigone is one of my favorite plays and Steiner one of my favorite critics. Hence. . . .

I went to The Park Avenue Armory (NYC, and my venue of choice for outstanding events) to see a Japanese, Buddhist performance of the play, one of the most beautiful artistic events I have ever witnessed. The play was done in Japanese, in a large pool of water, with stone places and a kind of island in the center. The actors wore white robes, and there was an overhead simultaneous translation.

Steiner does a historical analysis of the play in Western culture that is thorough and, naturally, erudite

[Birch · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the end, he takes 300 pages to teach us that nobody can love that much a work of art. He would actually beat anyone. Loved him

[Geoffrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

See review by Jonathan Barnes on internet.
Later-- Barnes's review has now been pulled. It didn't leave much standing! Barnes is a very fine scholar.