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Lessons of the Masters (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures)
Lessons of the Masters - The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures Author:George Steiner When we talk about education today, we tend to avoid the rhetoric of "mastery," with its erotic and inegalitarian overtones. But the charged personal encounter between master and disciple is precisely what interests George Steiner in this book, a sustained reflection on the infinitely complex and subtle interplay of power, trust, and... more » passions in the most profound sorts of pedagogy. "Steiner's Lessons of the Masters sets forth the disturbing complexity of the relationship between teacher and pupil, master and disciple … Some of the best writing in Steiner's book is scorching characterization—of bad teachers, of the politically correct, and the hypocrites who would deny the erotic element in the teacher-pupil relationship." —Germaine Greer, London Times "The debt owed to [Steiner] by his readers … cannot be acknowledged too often … Good teachers, [Steiner] speculates, may be rarer than artists or sages … There is, he says, no craft more privileged, or more vital to society's health. This is a book which every person interested in culture should read, but it should act especially as a tonic for teachers in these grey times." —John Banville, Irish Times "Why do we constantly degrade or lampoon teachers? What they do is how civilizations are built—'no craft more privileged' says George Steiner … Perhaps it's because too many teachers, like me, fell ignominiously short of greatness. Steiner is not one of those. In these six Charles Eliot Norton Lectures, he brings his formidable charisma, his unrivalled range of reference and powers of rhetoric to bear on the peaks (as well as some troughs) of pedagogy, in history and literature: Socrates and Alcibiades, the parables of Christ, Faust, Virgil and Dante, Abelard and Eloise … Like his hero Socrates, Steiner professes to have few answers, but his questions sweep you along." —Robin Blake, Financial Times« less