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.

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.