On ethnographic surrealism volume 23 issue 4 james clifford. Susan sontag, the dark lady of american intellectual life for over four decades, has died of cancer. It goes without saying that the camp sensibility is disengaged, depoliticized or at least apolitical. She attended the university of california at berkeley for one year and then transferred to the university of. It would hard to find any reputable literary critic today who would care to be caught defending as an idea the old antithesis of style. Literary interpretation and analysis of susan sontags. Everyone is quick to avow that style and content are indissoluble, that the strongly individual style of each important. By susan sontag it would hard to find any reputable literary critic today who would care to be caught defending as an idea the old antithesis of style versus content. Analysis of susan sontags writing on photography and a critical interpretation of a photograph. Regarding the pain of others photographs we feel the same things. Here is a book of 126 splendid color photographs by leni riefenstahl, certainly the most ravishing book of photographs published anywhere in recent years. First published in 1966, this celebrated book sontag s first collection of essays quickly became a modern classic, and has had an enormous influence in america and abroad on.
Against interpretation and other essays, by susan sontag its a little intimidating to try to comment upon this essay collection. It includes some of sontags bestknown works, including on style, and the. In the latter, sontag argues that in the new approach to aesthetics the spiritual importance of art is being replaced by the emphasis on the intellect. Susan sontag essay offers her reflections on torture of iraqi prisoners by americans at abu ghraib, and the photographs that have appeared of. Against interpretation by susan sontag, 1966, dell pub. Jun, 2019 sontags 1977 collection of essays entitled on photography is perhaps the most prescient and influential book ever written on the medium. This volume brings together four essential works of the 1960s and 70s, books whose intelligence and brilliant style confirm.
What is susan sontags notes on camp and why is camp the. Sontag s 1977 collection of essays entitled on photography is perhaps the most prescient and influential book ever written on the medium. Why susan sontag would have hated a campthemed met gala sontag s 1964 essay notes on camp is the theme of this years costume institute fundraiser. More than a commentator on her era, she helped shape it. Describing that there are styles that certain individuals love, while others have an antipathy towards sontag, p. Susan sontag s on photography is a text that every photography theory student grapples with at one point or another. Susan sontag on literature and freedom brain pickings. Ebook or pdf edited book email encyclopedia article govt. Against interpretation susan sontag the earliest experience of art must have been that it was incantatory, magical.
Susan sontag art history bibliographies in harvard style. Thisseason guide to susan sontag s essay notes on camp one should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art. Susan sontag 19332004 spent a lifetime on writing, art, and the commodification of wisdom. She was alternately celebrated and derided as a public intellectual. Styles of radical will, susan sontag s second collection of essays, extends the investigations she undertook in against interpretation with essays on film, literature, politics, and a groundbreaking study of pornography. In the intractable desert of the southern sudan live about eight thousand aloof, godlike. In my analysis of the first chapter, in platos cave, i elaborate on what sontag is trying to say and argue against some of her statements. To emphasize style is to slight content, or to introduce an attitude which is neutral with respect to content. Susan sontag book, on photography, is a unique book examining societys relationship to photographs. Pdf susan sontag against interpretation and other esbookzz. Susan sontags 54yearold essay on camp is essential. It asked students to use the passage as a springboard from which to write an essay that supported, refuted, or qualified sontag s position. A womans beautya put down or power source, by susan sontag. Against interpretation, and other essays susan sontag from the publisher.
Sontag feels she is writing at a time when critics tend to. Thisseason guide to susan sontags essay notes on camp. To sontag, content is the surface gloss and style is the deep interior of a work of artwork. Though it is now regarded as a seminal arthistorical text, sontag was neither an art professional nor an academic. In art, content is, as it were, the pretext, the goal, the lure which engages consciousness in essentially formal processes of transformation. In it, she addresses both the advantages and the disadvantages of metaphors sontag writes. Susan sontags essay on style against interpretation contains many passages to warm an aging aesthetes heart.
Pdf susan sontag against interpretation and other es. Nov 25, 2015 these are the sources and citations used to research against interpretation susan sontag. Spirituality plans, terminologies, ideas of deportment aimed at the resolution of painful structural contradictions inherent in the human situation, at the completion of human consciousness, at transcendence. Quotations by susan sontag, american author, born january 16, 1933. It is a set of essays on the philosophy of picturetaking and the meaning of photography in the modern ca. Sontag in fact asserts that style is the most important element in a work of art, and it is style which sometimes appears as a shorthand for form that is the specifically aesthetic quality of a work of art, and therefore deserves the most attention. Thisseason guide to susan sontags essay notes on camp one should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art. Among her books are several works of criticism, against interpretation, on photography. For reasons worth exploring, sontag herself came to dislike the essay and in later years took umbrage at anyone.
Complete summary of susan sontag s against interpretation and other essays. In the latter, sontag argues that in the new approach to aesthetics the spiritual importance of art is being replaced by the emphasis on the. Susan sontag on books, selftranscendence, and reading in the age of screens the conscience of words. Regarding the torture of others the new york times.
The old style of interpretation was insistent, but respectful. Nov 07, 2016 in the text on style susan sontag invites us to question what style really is sontag, 1969. Susan sontag 19332004 spent a lifetime on writing, art, and the commodification of wisdom her moving work, against interpretation, is regarded as a quintessential text from the 60s. January 16, 1933 december 28, 2004 was an american writer, filmmaker, philosopher, teacher, and political activist. A susan sontag reader consists of the authors own selection of the work she. Susan sontag writing styles in regarding the pain of others susan sontag this study guide consists of approximately 21 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of regarding the pain of others. Pdf susan sontag geborene susan rosenblatt kam am 16. The image world susan sontag 1977 november 7, 2009 by hugh. In the second essayon style sontag takes on that old whipping horse, the antithesis of style and content. Susan sontag 19332004 was one of americas most prominent intellectuals, having been involved with the world of ideas all her life. It includes some of sontag s bestknown works, including on style, and the eponymous essay against interpretation. Why style is the most important element in a work of art. The essay first appeared that fall, and didnt take long.
Susan sontag writing styles in regarding the pain of others. Tracing the nuances of sontag s argument strikes me as. Styles of radical will, susan sontag s second collection of essays, extends the investigations she undertook in against interpretation with essays on film, literature, politics, and a. Susan sontag 16 january 1933 28 december 2004 was an american writer and filmmaker, novelist, writer of screenplays, professor, literary icon, and political activist. If it did occur to the greeks to distinguish between a persons inside and outside, they still expected that. Sontag was a tall, handsome, fluent and articulate woman. Susan sontag on the wisdom of literature, the danger of opinions, and the writers task susan sontag on storytelling, what it means to be a moral human being, and her advice to writers. Anyone interested in the social roles of photography will find this book fascinating and thoughtprovoking. Welcome to the first and longest running website maintained by a professor at georgetown university. This mornings collection contains the photograph of what might be a mans body, or a womans. The earliest theory of art, that of the greek philosophers, proposed that art was mimesis, imitation of reality.
I love reading things that introduce me to a new way of thinking. To hold a good book in your hand is, as anne michaels wrote in fugitive pieces, to be a pilgrim at the gates of a new city. Not only is there a camp vision, a camp way of looking at things. Nov 15, 2017 sontag, who died in 2004, was remarkably prolific, especially if you count her journals, which i consider ecstatic texts in and of themselves. The pasticheurs style is essentially a style of fantasy. But those certainly are dead children, and that undoubtedly is the section of a house. As a critic, she became the most provocative and influential voice of her time. Persons then were assumed to be what we now have to calllamely, enviouslywhole persons. Her moving work, against interpretation, is regarded as a quintessential text from the 60s. Susan sontag the aesthetics of silence i every era has to reinvent the project of spirituality for itself. Spiritual style in the films of robert bresson godards vivre sa vie the imagination of disaster jack smiths flaming creatures resnais muriel a note on novels and films 5. Against interpretation is a collection of essays by susan sontag published in 1966.
However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. It is not surprising to find no mention of this film, a print of which was found in 1971. In on style sontag claims that riefenstahls films transcend the categories of propaganda or even reportage. Susan sontag notes on camp university of california. She attended the university of california at berkeley for one year and. It all comes down to a persons judgement and information. On photography began with a single essay in which susan sontag wanted to explore some of the problems, both aesthetic and moral, presented by the omnipresence of photographed images in. This prompt required students to develop an argument in response to susan sontag s claim, taken from a passage from her 1977 book on photography, that photography limits our understanding of the world. Feminist and cultural analysis today suggests that we scrutinize the image, examine the photograph on the book jacket, in order that we can make some putative. Ive heard numerous sf critics mamatas, duncan, and delany explain how style is. I set up the first website at georgetown in 1993, and began developing websites for courses in 1994. After studying at the university of california at berkeley, she earned a b. The visibility of styles is itself a product of historical consciousness. Youll have to forgive me for groaning a little when she began the essay.
Susan sontag is the author of four novels, the benefactor, death kit, the volcano lover, and in america, which won the 2000 national book award for fiction. A womans beautya put down or power source, by susan sontag 1975 for the greeks, beauty was a virtue. I read it myself a good year before starting this course but if there was ever a case of something you read going in one eye and out the other this was it. Susan sontags radical essays on photography still matter. Its first two essaysagainst interpretation and on styleare so fascinating and so lucid that i am afraid my commentary can only impose a gloss of halfunderstood meaning on top of sontags. As everything she wrote, susan sontag s book on photography is brilliant. The image world susan sontag 1977 traces of the real. Analysis of susan sontag s writing on photography and a critical interpretation of a photograph.
To speak of style is one way of speaking about the totality of a work of art. Syberberg has devised a particularly german variety of spectacle. Sontag s signature essay, against interpretation, like its companion piece, on style, highlights her concern with form. Susan sontag art history bibliographies cite this for me. In it, she addresses both the advantages and the disadvantages of metaphors. Doc analysis of susan sontags writing on photography and a.
She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels. Doc analysis of susan sontags writing on photography. We proceeded to discuss style that we had an antipathy towards. Speaking of ecstasy, sontag is also a figure of worship for a lot of writers, in part because of the many, many opinions she had on writing, and what good writing should be. Dec 29, 2004 susan sontag, the dark lady of american intellectual life for over four decades, has died of cancer. In the excruciating banalities of the valets narrative, in a burlesque of chaplins impersonation of hitler in the great. May 05, 2019 why susan sontag would have hated a campthemed met gala sontag s 1964 essay notes on camp is the theme of this years costume institute fundraiser. This bibliography was generated on cite this for me on wednesday, november 25, 2015. The modern style of interpretation excavates, and as it excavates, destroys. Susan sontag, american intellectual and writer best known for her essays on modern culture. Under the sign of saturn susan sontag vintage books a division of random house new york. Susan sontag was an incandescent presence in american culture, whether as essayist, fiction writer, filmmaker, or political activist. Against interpretation and other essays, by susan sontag. The exhibition is inspired and informed largely by susan sontag s brilliant 1964 essay, notes on camp, a treatise written over 50 years ago that managed to predict the bizarre features.
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