IN: Francis George Steiner, FBA (born April 23, 1929) is a French-born American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, and educator. He has written extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, and the impact of the Holocaust. An article in The Guardian described Steiner as a "polyglot and polymath", saying that he is either "often credited with recasting the role of the critic", or a "pretentious namedropper" whose "range comes at the price of inaccuracy" and "complacency". Among his admirers, Steiner is ranked "among the great minds in today's literary world."

In 1956 Steiner returned to the United States, where for two years he was a scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He also held a Fulbright professorship in Innsbruck, Austria from 1958 to 1959. In 1959, he was appointed Gauss Lecturer at Princeton, where he lectured for another two years. He then became a founding fellow of Churchill College at the University of Cambridge in 1961. Steiner was initially not well received at Cambridge by the English faculty. Many disapproved of this charismatic "firebrand with a foreign accent" and questioned the relevance of the Holocaust he constantly referred to in his lectures. Bryan Cheyette, professor of 20th-century literature at the University of Southampton said that at the time, "Britain [...] didn't think it had a relationship to the Holocaust; its mythology of the war was rooted in the Blitz, Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain." While Steiner received a professorial salary, he was never made a full professor at Cambridge with the right to examine. He had the option of leaving for professorships in the United States, but Steiner's father objected, saying that Hitler, who said no one bearing their name would be left in Europe, would then have won. Steiner remained in England because "I'd do anything rather than face such contempt from my father." He was elected an Extraordinary Fellow at Cambridge in 1969.  After several years as a freelance writer and occasional lecturer, Steiner accepted the post of Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Geneva in 1974; he held this post for 20 years, teaching in four languages. He lived by Goethe's maxim that "no monoglot truly knows his own language." He became Professor Emeritus at Geneva University on his retirement in 1994, and an Honorary Fellow at Balliol College at Oxford University in 1995. He has since held the positions of the first Lord Weidenfeld Professor of Comparative European Literature and Fellow of St Anne's College at Oxford University from 1994 to 1995, and Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University from 2001 to 2002.  Steiner has been called "an intelligent and intellectual critic and essayist." He was active on undergraduate publications while at the University of Chicago and later become a regular contributor of reviews and articles to many journals and newspapers including the Times Literary Supplement and The Guardian. He has written for The New Yorker for over thirty years, contributing over two hundred reviews.  While Steiner generally takes things very seriously, he also reveals an unexpected deadpan humor: when he was once asked if he had ever read anything trivial as a child, he replied, Moby-Dick.

What did he try next

OUT: 1959, he was appointed Gauss Lecturer at Princeton, where he lectured for another two years.


IN: Stone Sour is an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992, performing for five years, before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000 and since 2006, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Rand (guitar) and Roy Mayorga (drums). Longtime members Joel Ekman (drums, percussion), Shawn Economaki (bass guitar), and Jim Root (guitar) left the group in 2006, 2011, and 2014 respectively. To date, Stone Sour have released six studio albums Stone Sour (2002); Come What(ever)

The band released a song called "The Pessimist" as a free download on their Facebook page on March 27, 2012. The song was previously only available on the iTunes deluxe version of the soundtrack to Transformers: Dark of the Moon. They also released their first DVD Live at Brighton in the same year, capturing their performance on November 7, 2010.  It was announced via Instagram on May 3, 2012 that bassist Shawn Economaki had parted ways with the band on amicable terms. He was replaced in the studio by current Skid Row bassist Rachel Bolan. Stone Sour started recording their fourth studio album in early 2012. Corey Taylor stated that the album would end up being a double album or concept album, and described the album's sound as "Pink Floyd's The Wall meets Alice in Chains's Dirt". It was later announced that the new material would be released as two separate albums. The first album, House of Gold & Bones - Part 1 was released worldwide on October 23, 2012, and the second album House of Gold & Bones - Part 2 was released worldwide on April 9, 2013. The project also has a 4-part graphic novel series that accompanies the albums, telling the linear storyline featured in the twin albums' lyrics.  The first two songs from Part 1, "Gone Sovereign" and the first official single, "Absolute Zero" were released for radio airplay in mid/late August 2012. The first single from House of Gold & Bones Part 2 was "Do Me a Favor". It was released digitally on February 12. Guitarist Josh Rand stated in an interview with O2 Academy that there was a song recorded for Part 1, an instrumental which was deemed 'not up to par' by the band. The song will likely be released in the future once James Root and Josh Rand do 'some stuff to it guitar-wise'.  On October 5, 2012, Johny Chow of Fireball Ministry and Cavalera Conspiracy was announced as the bassist for the band on the House of Gold & Bones tour cycle. Stone Sour subsequently played Soundwave Festival 2013 in Australia and on the Sunday at Download Festival 2013. Guitarist James Root did not tour with Stone Sour in the winter of 2013, as he had to take a brief hiatus from the group to work on .5: The Gray Chapter with Slipknot, although it was later revealed that he was fired from the band due to musical differences. He claimed that the band wanted to focus on "radio play and money," in which Root fought against, and that led to a split. Christian Martucci filled in for Root during that period.

What did critics say about the album?

OUT:
Stone Sour subsequently played Soundwave Festival 2013 in Australia and on the Sunday at Download Festival 2013. Guitarist James Root did not tour with Stone Sour