<p>Steiner did not write the books because intimacies and indiscretions were too threatening. Because the topic brought too much pain. Because its emotional or intellectual challenge proved beyond his capacities.</p><p>The actual themes range widely and defy conventional taboos: the torment of the gifted when they live among the very great; the experience of sex in different languages; Zionism; a more intense love for animals than for human beings; the costly privilege of exile; a theology of emptiness.</p>