From Prague Poet to Oxford Anthropologist: Frank Baermann Steiner Celebrated Essays and Translations - Publications of the Institute of Germanic Studies

Franz Baermann Steiner is increasingly recognized as one of the leading poets and anthropologists of the mid-twentieth century. The first book of essays on Steiner, this volume collects the papers given at a symposium held at the Institute of Germanic Studies to commemorate the ninetieth anniversary of Steiner's birth, and which brought together all the major scholars working on Steiner, as well as several younger ones. The papers take a fresh look at Steiner's life and work, locating him more precisely against his Prague background and the English emigré community, whilst at the same time placing him in the context of mid-twentieth century culture, and specifically in his relation to the Shoah. Its foundational readings of his literary and anthropological works enable a rich and multi-faceted view to emerge of a writer who, as an anthropologist, belonged to the English-speaking world, but as a poet, formed part of the German literary tradition.