On its first publication in 1975, After Babel quickly established itself as both controversial and seminal. George Steiner was the first since the 18th century to present a systematic investigation of the phenomenology and processes of translation both inside and between languages. Taking issue with the principal emphasis of modern linguistics, he finds the root of the Babel problem in our deep instinct for privacy and a unique body of shared secrecy. With this provocative thesis he analyzes every aspect of translation, from fundamental conditions of interpretation to the most intricate of linguistic constructions. This second edition has been completely revised and amended, and includes an updated bibliography and a new preface which sets the book in the present context of hermeneutics, poetics, and translation studies.