After his doctoral thesis at Oxford, a draft of The Death of Tragedy (later published by Faber and Faber), was initially rejected, Steiner took time off from his studies to teach English at Williams College and to work as leader writer for the London-based weekly publication The Economist between 1952 and 1956. It was during this time that he met Zara Shakow, a New Yorker of Lithuanian[6] descent. She had also studied at Harvard, and they met in London at the suggestion of their former professors.