Main content

Professor George Steiner

Sue Lawley's castaway is academic and critic Professor George Steiner.

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Professor George Steiner. One of the most prominent intellectuals of our time, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how the English academic establishment has taken decades to accept him despite his early popularity as a Cambridge lecturer, and about the problem of reconciling the love of beauty with great acts of evil.
He'll also be describing how his family left Austria for France in the 1920s and how he was one of only two boys to survive in his class in the largely Jewish lycee he attended in Paris.

When asked to select just one record to take to the island, Professor George said that for him, it was all or nothing.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Book: 500 year ahead calendar and appointment book
Luxury: Computer

Available now

40 minutes

Last on

Fri 19 Jul 1996 09:05
麻豆社 Radio 4

More episodes

Previous

Susan Hill

Next

Sir Roy Calne

See all episodes from Desert Island Discs

Music Played

  • Richard Wagner

    Lohengrin

  • George Frideric Handel

    But thanks be to God (sung in German) (from Messiah)

    • Lieder Recital.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Anton Bruckner

    Symphony No. 7 in E major

    • Bruckner: Symphonies 7 & 9.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Hector Berlioz

    Le spectre de la rose (from Les nuits d'茅t茅)

    • Regine Crespin; Works By Berlioz, Ravel.
    • Decca.

  • Erik Satie

    Trois Gymnop茅dies - No. 1

    Performer: Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse.
    • Works By Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin.
    • EMI.

  • Michael Tippett

    King Priam

    • King Priam.
    • Chandos.

  • Samuel Barber

    Agnus Dei

    • Voices Of Silence.
    • RCA Classics.

  • 脡dith Piaf

    Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien

    • Edith Piaf; 25th Anniversary Vol 3.
    • Columbia.

  • Book Choice

    • 500 year ahead calendar and appointment book

  • Luxury Choice

    • Computer

Credits

Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest George Steiner

Broadcasts

  • Sun 18 Feb 1996 12:15
    麻豆社 Radio 4
  • Fri 23 Feb 1996 09:05
    麻豆社 Radio 4
  • Fri 19 Jul 1996 09:05
    麻豆社 Radio 4

Featured in...

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast