La Bibliothèque, rêves et légendes - Un entretien avec George Steiner

Writer of many essays – Après Babel, Les Antigones, Réelles Présences –, George Steiner has thought a lot about the role of the book and libraries in history and in the clash of cultures. In this interview given recently at his home in Cambridge, George Steiner evokes some of the paradoxes of the history of books and reading. What should be kept ? How can we cope with the influx of written documents ? How should they be classified ? What books have disappeared forever ? Should libraries still contain censored books not available to the public and should censorship continue ? Is Internet going to kill libraries, and doesn’t it embody a renewal of oral civilisations ? These are the questions to which Steiner provides stimulating answers. This interview which begins with a defence of the web, ends on a hymn to reading alone and the exceptional adventure that time spent in a library represents.