In 2003 George Steiner?a Paris-born, American, UK-based literary critic, philosopher and essayist?gave a lecture in Tilburg, a small Dutch city on the Belgian border. His talk, which he titled ?The Idea of Europe,? made some waves in certain circles but, ultimately, wasn't widely discussed. Years later, I found a copy of the transcript in Amsterdam?s Athenaeum[1], who had tucked it in the corner of a sunken room on a shelf devoted to "Brexit." I read it the following day while on a train to Brussels.

Da Florian in Venice (2013). © Gianni Berengo Gardin. Image Courtesy of Caffe Florian

In 2003 George Steiner?a Paris-born, American, UK-based literary critic, philosopher and essayist?gave a lecture in Tilburg, a small Dutch city on the Belgian border. His talk, which he titled ?The Idea of Europe,? made some waves in certain circles but, ultimately, wasn't widely discussed. Years later, I found a copy of the transcript in Amsterdam?s Athenaeum[1], who had tucked it in the corner of a sunken room on a shelf devoted to "Brexit." I read it the following day while on a train to Brussels.As I trundled across the Flemish hinterland Steiner?s words, delivered with judicious insight and a reassuring cautionary edge, served as a reminder of one irrevocable fact: that Europe is a continent ?of linguistic, cultural, [and] social diversity;? a ?mosaic?[2] of communities that have never been united under an institution of the same scale and ambi...