Susan Sontag was born in New York City on January 16, 1933, grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and attended high school in Los Angeles. She received her B.A. from the College of the University of Chicago and did graduate work in philosophy, literature, and theology at Harvard University and Saint Anne鈥檚 College, Oxford.
Her books include four novels, The Benefactor, Death Kit, The Volcano Lover, and In America; a collection of short stories, I, etcetera; several plays, including Alice in Bed and Lady from the Sea; and nine works of nonfiction, starting with Against Interpretation and including On Photography, Illness as Metaphor, Where the Stress Falls, Regarding the Pain of Others, and At the Same Time. In 1982, Farrar, Straus & Giroux published A Susan Sontag Reader.
Ms. Sontag wrote and directed four feature-length films: Duet for Cannibals (1969) and Brother Carl (1971), both in Sweden; Promised Lands (1974), made in Israel during the war of October 1973; and Unguided Tour (1983), from her short story of the same name, made in Italy. Her play Alice in Bed has had productions in the United States, Mexico, Germany, and Holland. Another play, Lady from the Sea, has been produced in Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Korea.
Ms. Sontag also directed plays in the United States and Europe, including a staging of Beckett's Waiting for Godot in the summer of 1993 in besieged Sarajevo, where she spent much of the time between early 1993 and 1996 and was made an honorary citizen of the city.
A human rights activist for more than two decades, Ms. Sontag served from 1987 to 1989 as president of the American Center of PEN, the international writers鈥� organization dedicated to freedom of expression and the advancement of literature, from which platform she led a number of campaigns on behalf of persecuted and imprisoned writers.
Her stories and essays appeared in newspapers, magazines, and literary publications all over the world, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, Art in America, Antaeus, Parnassus, The Threepenny Review, The Nation, and Granta. Her books have been translated into thirty-two languages.
Among Ms. Sontag's many honors are the 2003 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the 2003 Prince of Asturias Prize, the 2001 Jerusalem Prize, the National Book Award for In America (2000), and the National Book Critics Circle Award for On Photography (1978). In 1992 she received the Malaparte Prize in Italy, and in 1999 she was named a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government (she had been named an Officier in the same order in 1984). Between 1990 and 1995 she was a MacArthur Fellow.
Ms. Sontag died in New York City on December 28, 2004.
If you know me, you know that I am a Susan Sontag girl. If I could talk to one person, dead or alive, it would be her. If I had to name a single favorite author, it would be her. If I could pick my dream career, it would be hers. Susan's diaries have carried me through dark COVID days, her essays have made me, and I firmly believe it, a better thinker, writer and person. Bold statment, I know. i said it anyways.
David Rieff, her son and editor, is thankfully very much alive and the person who still supplies me and the world with new Sontag texts to read. In May, he published yet another collection of essays by his mother: "On Women", texts about, and I quote, "aging, equality, beauty, sexuality and fascism". Of course I read it. And here's how I liked it.
Susan Sontag is brilliant. Period. Her arguments are so precisely worded, so well-thought-out, that I do not envy anyone who ever had to debate her. The first four essays gave me just what I wanted: Susan's take on feminist issues, food for thought, and more quotes than I could underline.
But then, on page 104 of 180, we got started on fascism. And I have to say: I have no idea what moved David Rieff to include the last three chapters in this book. They kept revolving around the same point, which was, arguably, an interesting take on the intersection between fascism and sexuality, but they were so LONG and self-referential that I (I can't believe I am about to type this out) got bored. Yes, bored! And I DON'T think that that was Susan's fault, but that these texts were poorly contextualized. If you pick up this book, you need to know what you can expect, which is 60% feminism and 40% nazism, fascism and comments on propaganda.
So: 3/5 stars for the collection, but 5/5 stars for Susan Sontag's writing, because duh, this woman just can't go wrong, can she?
Despite much engaging writing, this occasionally laborious collection fails to really showcase Sontag鈥檚 capabilities. And the title is slightly unnecessary too.
With at The Strand in September of 2019, he came across a question from his biography of Lispector in regards to Sontag鈥檚 viewpoint on taste: 鈥淲hat is a woman on the page?鈥� What makes feminine writing? And then how or why, then, does it become feminist?
The construction of this collection of essays is clever in that it ends with an interview, but before that, we get an exchange between Rich and Sontag about queer tastes surrounding fascist fashion and the desired brutality of the patriarchy.
With Sontag鈥檚 response, she鈥檚 hard-headed, but consistent in her thinking that expresses growth and strength. It鈥檚 grounded. Sound. Difficult. Hard to persuade that the beginnings of her initial argument are still there. Refined. It鈥檚 constant work, to think, and to be that work entirely is an art in itself.
I鈥檝e come to the conclusion that we read Sontag to become better speakers or writers. That there is context behind every catch-grab word, every headline. That there is a beyond that must be lived and thought-through. Because if not, all if you have is literally every other single person on Tiktok, out on the street, clueless.
It鈥檚 of its time and I鈥檓 quite curious to know whyabouts of this recent publication, but I always find it fascinating when we go back to the archives to see what thinking was at the forefronts of cultural movements or stirrings. She鈥檚 right. We are made up mostly of the past. And it鈥檚 beautiful to see some of her past, as she saw It, spoke it, wrote it. Lived it.
First half of this book was positively fantastic. Sontag loses some steam when she starts talking about fascism and the book begins to read more like an academic journal.
For women, aging is failure, and Sontag wastes no time sugarcoating it. Society tells us our worth is youth, and youth has an expiration date.
We鈥檙e taught to fear time. Every wrinkle feels like a countdown to our inevitable irrelevance. Some men gladly benefit exploiting this artificially implanted fear: 鈥淗urry. Marry. Have children. Settle for me, or you鈥檒l end up discarded, unwanted, and bitter.鈥� They call it advice, but it鈥檚 a threat and a reminder that, in their eyes, our value is diminishing.
Too often, we comply. We see ourselves through their eyes, fighting the inevitable with needles and scalpels, chasing approval from a world ready to reject us. We tell ourselves we do it to feel better, but rarely ask ourselves why.
Sontag鈥檚 sharp, unputdownable essays expose society鈥檚 distorted standards for women. Her words punch hard; they feel vulnerably personal because they are鈥攆or every woman, I鈥檓 sure. I felt deeply understood and inspired reading this book. Truly, I loved every word of hers.
She doesn鈥檛 leave us in defeat. Sontag reminds us our strength lies in how we see ourselves in OUR eyes. Our true worth grows with time. It鈥檚 in our intellect and individuality鈥攏ot in the youthful look society expects us to chase.
P.S. The high rating is solely for the essays on women. The essays on fascism, also for some reason included in this book, were uninteresting, so I skipped them and left them out of my rating.
I liked the first essay about aging a lot, and the one about the aesthetics of facsism was interesting in parts, but beside that I think there are much better essays on most of these topics.
Povremeno razmi拧ljam o ljudima s kojima 膷esto imamo priliku da se sretnemo u javnom prostoru. Obi膷no je re膷 o intelektualcima, izuzetno uspe拧nim u nekoj oblasti, koji, me膽utim, tom uspehu duguju samopouzdanje 膷ije se granice prostiru i nedogled i koje kao takvo mora biti neosnovano. Prema mom mi拧ljenju Suzan Sontag (ili Zontag?) je jedna od tih ljudi, a meni jo拧 te啪e pada kad su ti ljudi 啪ene.
Kada pi拧e o onome 拧to zaista poznaje, autorka je maestralna. Me膽utim, ova knjiga pretenduje da bude studija o polo啪aju 啪ena u dru拧tvu i kada je o toj temi re膷, ona je prepuna op拧tih mesta, a to 拧to je ne拧to istina ne zna膷i da ga treba ponavljati u nedogled. Tako膽e, za 啪enu koja sebe naziva feministkinjom, Susan Sontag je zapanjuju膰e neizanteresovana za feministi膷ku teoriju, na primer, pa dozvoljava sebi da se vrlo proizvoljno slu啪i odre膽enim terminima i donosi jednako proizvoljne zaklju膷ke koji ne slede iz prethodno izre膷enog.
Uprkos tome, ova knjiga je zanimljiva za 膷itanje, naro膷ito pojedini delovi, poput eseja o Leni Rifen拧tal.
On Women is a posthumously published collection of Sontag's essays and interviews on women and feminist thought/social criticism. Many of these essays had already been published before and concerns feminists debates in the 70s or early 80s. The introduction is by a rising literary scholar, Merve Emre, who is known for caring about the form/style distinctions that made Sontag prominent.
I've enjoyed Sontag's criticism. She's a clear, forceful writer. I think she has real expertise and valuable critical insights on meaningful works of literature. She also makes aesthetic arguments that are worth wrestling with. The most important aspect of this is that she does actually focus on substantial literature (as opposed to many of her political compatriots in the academy who increasingly became obsessed with triviality and dressing it in obscurant prose). Her later focus on film as a medium made sense given her critical position on art and literature, but it also presaged dire things for literature in Western culture.
Unfortunately, the arguments presented in On Women are antiquated, having been outrun by an onslaught of scientific knowledge about the consequences of sexual difference on biology and psychology. For example, in one of Sontag's essays she exhorts women to behave like men, including catcalling men on street. She envisions this turnabout of gendered behavior as some empowering gesture. There's since been no such turnabout because such behavior runs contrary to the natural inclinations of women, and it is decidedly unlikely to result in empowerment. Men are not intimidated by sexual attention from unknown women. They eagerly welcome, if not thirst, for it. On the other hand, unwanted sexual attention is generally quite alarming to women. There simply isn't a universe where women are generally asserting more social dominance or authority. This is deeply rooted in biological difference and is something our ideas and institutions cannot abolish.
However, I do feel it is unfair perhaps to hold Sontag to my standards for informed contemporary debates about sexual politics. In some ways her work still resonates with contemporary complaints about the social position of aging women and the status value of beauty. These again are complaints that have roots in biology. There are also available solutions to these complaints, but they generally require a re-introduction of institutions and practices that are considered reactionary or traditional. Subsequently, they tend to be rejected by those championing feminist complaints.
There are some positives to the arguments presented by Sontag. She deftly illustrates that socialist and communists movements don't offer anything special to those championing women's liberation. She also defends elite cultural preferences and distinguishes them from what can be available to those participating in mass politics. In other words, Sontag can often be a shrewd observer, identifying problems with ideas or trends in human behavior and emotion, but oftentimes her shrewdness ends before real prescriptions can be postulated.
I have trouble envisioning modern young women with feminist leanings enjoying Sontag's arguments. They would likely be received as profoundly enervating. Almost a half-century later, which in some ways can be characterized by remarkable liberation from the sociosexual norms and obligations of the past, has done nothing to address many of feminism's core complaints.
Betere titel was 鈥渙ver witte vrouwen鈥�. De volgorde van essays was zeker een tactische keuze : van 90% onderlijnde zinnen in 鈥淒e dubbele moraal van het ouder worden鈥� tot gauw horizontaal de zinnen doornemen in 鈥淗et Salmagundi-interview鈥�.
E prima mea 卯nt芒lnire cu Susan Sontag 葯i m-a cucerit la fel cum a f膬cut-o 葯i Bell Hooks, a fost grozav s膬 fac aceast膬 c膬l膬torie 卯n mintea ei. Avem aici o colec葲ie de eseuri pe diverse teme, preferatele mele sunt cele care ating problematica sexismului, frumuse葲ii, dublului standard al 卯mb膬tr芒nirii 葯i problematici asem膬n膬toare. 脦n ultima parte avem 葯i un interviu suculent, dar 葯i un dialog 卯ntre ea 葯i poeta Adrienne Rich pornind de la un eseu pe care Susan Sontag l-a scris despre fascism (鈥濬ascinantul fascism鈥�, prezent 卯n carte) 葯i regizoarea Leni Riefenstahl (considerat膬, paradoxal sau nu, 葯i o mare feminist膬 葯i o sus葲in膬toare a fascismului prin filmele ei). Mi s-au p膬rut interesante g芒ndurile lui Susan Sontag 葯i despre art膬, interpretare, modul 卯n care apare sau nu apare feminismul 卯n toate celelalte practici de analiz膬 葯i g芒ndire (ca articolele despre regizori 葯i filme, de exemplu).
Sometimes books find you at the perfect time in your life. This book coincides with so may things, even just finishing Hannah Arendt's *Origins of Totalitarianism* earlier this summer.
I'm going to have to reread this for sure, especially loved the analogy of the treatment of women as neocolonialism.
Sontag is a fierce intellect. A force to be reckoned with. The kind of agile mind that can distract from her own contradictions with sophisticated wordplay and verbal a***-kickery. Convince you that you've got it all wrong regardless of reality.
She'll elegantly explain the patriarchy, but then pooh-pooh advances in equal human rights as "reformist" & suggest we should politicise our sexual preferences (ideas I can't get behind despite largely agreeing with her critique of the system.)
I didn't live through the 70s. This was my first foray into Sontag's writing. Reading other reviews, I'm assured this isn't her best work.
Susan Sontag is without a doubt one of my literary heroes, and it鈥檚 in her critical writing that I think we really gage the height of her fierce intellect and literary powers. 鈥極n Women鈥�, this most recent 2023 collection of essays compiled and edited by her son David Rieff, is certainly no let down.
Mostly written during the early 1970s, the compilation feels (unofficially) split into two halves. The first half deals mainly with misogynistic societal issues, with essay titles such as, 鈥楾he Double Standard of Aging鈥�, 鈥楢 Woman鈥檚 Beauty: Put Down or Power Source?鈥� and 鈥楤eauty: How Will it Change Next?鈥�. The but second half takes an unexpected turn, and moves on to looking at feminism and fascism.
I鈥檝e read quite a few reviews here on GoodReads criticising the book for this, saying that the second half doesn鈥檛 feel at all well placed with the first. On the contrary, I disagree entirely with this. To me it seems clear that Rieff鈥檚 intention to include that latter essays is that in them Sontag fully explains her stance on the feminist movement and political issues of the time, which Sontag does not always affiliate herself with. Anyone reading this for the first time, I urge you to stick with the second half, as the initial essays on fascism lay the groundwork for the final pieces.
Sontag鈥檚 work is one of a kind, and I only wish we were able to hear her thoughts and views on our current societal and global issues.
Dit boek las ik in de zomervakantie toen ik aan het zeilen was op de waddenzee. Het was een lange tocht, dus ik had de tijd om te lezen. Ik had mijn bikini aangetrokken en lag op mijn boek het boek te lezen. Het was ontzettend interessant en ik heb die hele tocht zo gelegen om het boek uit te lezen. Hierdoor ben ik natuurlijk heel erg verbrand op mijn rug, want ik was vergeten mij in te smeren en daarom moest ik de dagen hier na ook op mijn buik slapen, omdat het anders te erg pijn deed.
De concentratie die ik kreeg om dit boek in een keer uit te lezen, ondanks dat het misschien beter was als ik stopte om mij bijvoorbeeld in te smeren, zegt veel over dit boek. Susan Sontag schrijft heel interessant over feminisme, niet alleen waar de maatschappij verantwoordelijk voor is, maar ook de verantwoordelijkheid die je draagt als je jezelf feminist noemt. Sommige dingen in dit boek zijn nog heel actueel, andere onderwerpen zijn (gelukkig) minder actueel en er zijn onderwerpen die er nu minder progressief voorliggen op het gebied van vrouwenemancipatie dan in de jaren '60 (Sontag zou ontzettend schrikken als ze zou zien hoeveel mensen nu botox gebruiken...). Ze grijpt je aandacht, legt haar mening uit en doet dit consequent, toegankelijk en soms fel. Ik ben het niet met alles eens, maar het was heel interessant om te lezen.
Esta 茅 uma primeira leitura que fa莽o de Sontag e deu para perceber que era uma mulher com uma mente astuta e excelente capacidade de argumenta莽茫o. Este livro, um conjunto de ensaios publicados no in铆cio dos anos 70 sobre o tema mulher, 茅 uma leitura densa e que existe aten莽茫o. Vale a pena o investimento mental, pois o tema e muitas das ideias continuam atuais e pertinentes.
"Um exemplo da diferen莽a de que falo: exigir que as mulheres recebam sal谩rio igual para trabalho igual 茅 reformista; exigir que as mulheres tenham acesso a todos os empregos e profiss玫es, sem excep莽茫o, 茅 radical. Exigir igualdade salarial n茫o ataca o sistema de estere贸tipos sexuais. Pagar a uma mulher o mesmo sal谩rio que a um homem se ela tiver o mesmo trabalho que ele cria t茫o-s贸 uma igualdade meramente formal. Quando as mulheres forem 脿 volta de metade das pessoas que fazem todo e qualquer tipo de trabalho, quando todas as formas de emprego e de responsabilidade p煤blica se tornarem inteiramente mistas, os estere贸tipos sexuais acabar茫o - e n茫o antes."
pretty disappointed for this being my first susan sontag book, but I know it will not be the last.
the first chapter contains the meat of the book, however the ideas are pretty rudimentary in my opinion and very repetitive; women are held to a higher standard of beauty and are judged more harshly as they age, men are judged less harshly as they age, blah blah blah.. it may also be because i鈥檓 a woman that I feel the urge to say 鈥渨ell yeah duh鈥� but there was genuinely no deeper analysis.
that being said, it did make me feel a bit upset having this reaction because it made me realize these ideas have been in my head for so long that it seems silly to even point them out鈥� let alone write a whole book about it? maybe that was her point? idk
other than that, I did enjoy her style of writing for the most part. last half of the book is about fascism which is pretty random and unexpected so I skimmed most of it.
I guess I was hoping for a fuller discussion 鈥渙n women鈥� ..
i don't like to rate memoirs/nonfic so i just state if i would recommend something or not鈥� i will always recommend sontag, especially the first half of this collection.
the latter half of this focused on fascism and that's where it lost steam for me, and i can see that is a common experience in the other reviews of this. although the 'in conversation with' + interview parts were interesting because of the argumentative and reflective nature of them, they were just so heavily self-referential and came off more academic than the first half of this collection, which isn't to say they were particularly bad, only that it feels like we could have split this collection in half.
ten铆a muchas expectativas del libro, pero me decepcion贸 un poco. si bien los ensayos eran de un contenido incre铆ble, a ratos se pon铆a (bastante) latero. pd: 'the double standard of aging' fue mi favorito, definitivamente uno de los ensayos que mas me han marcado. To be sure, beauty is a form of power. And deservedly so. What is lamentable is that it is the only form of power that most women are encouraged to seek. This power is always conceived in relation to men; it is not the power to do but the power to attract. It is a power that negates itself. For this power is not one that can be chosen freely -at least, not by women- or renounced without social censure.