A Susan Sontag reader

Description

Susan Sontag occupies a special place in Modern American letters. She has become our most important critic, while her brilliant novels and short fiction are, at long last, getting the recognition they deserve. Sontag is above all a writer, which is only to say that, though the form may differ, there is an essential unity in all her work. The truth of this is perhaps more evident in A Susan Sontag Reader than in any of Sontag's individual books. The writer selected a sampling of her work, meaning the choice both to reflect accurately a career and also to guide the reader toward those qualities and concerns which she prizes in her own writing. A Susan Sontag Reader is arranged chronologically and draws on most of Sontag's books. There are selections from her two novels, The Benefactor and Death Kit, and from her collections of short stories, I, etcetera. The famous essays from the 1960s—"Against Interpretation," "Notes on Camp," and... Content: From The benefactor -- From Against interpretation: Simone Weil Against interpretation Notes on camp Spiritual style in the films of Robert Bresson On style -- From Death kit -- From Styles of radical will: The aesthetics of silence The pornographic imagination Godard -- From I, etcetera: Project for a trip to China Debriefing -- From Under the sign of Saturn: Fascinating fascism -- The Salmagundi interview -- From On photography: The image-world -- From I, etcetera: Unguided tour -- From Under the sign of Saturn: Under the sign of Saturn Syberberg's Hitler -- Writing itself : on Roland Barthes.