"No critic, no man of letters in our time, has surpassed the scope, seriousness, verbal virtuosity—truly, he is the Guest of Language—and sheer vivacity of mind of George Steiner. The various, supple, often subtle, essays of this volume do critical honor to Steiner, his fierce poetics of meaning, his shocking deed of semantic trust. And unlike so much contemporary criticism, they all share a tact of the heart."—Ihab Hassan.