A brief commentary on susan sontags against interpretation. Susan sontag addresses this in her essay against interpretation, which was published in 1966 by farrar, straus and giroux. It was her first collection of essays on the arts and contemporary culture. Originally published in 1966, it has never gone out of print and has influenced generations of readers all over the world. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide. I analyze and apply susan sontags essay against interpretation. Against interpretation, by susan sontag alicia ostriker. She points to barthes and others for people who have given solid formal analysis. Reevaluation of sontags seminal essay against interpretation. Against interpretation quotes susan sontag lib quotes. Against interpretation and other essays read an excerpt first published in 1966, this celebrated book sontags first collection of essays quickly became a modern classic, and has had an enormous influence in america and abroad on thinking about the arts and contemporary culture. Stress the modernity here, since she is distinguished less by a decided or passionate point of view compare her as a film critic, for example, with two such disparate personalities as james agee and kenneth tynan than by an eagerness to explore anything new. The function of criticism should be to show how it is what it is, even that it is what it is, rather than to show what it means. About against interpretation 610 against interpretation is an essay written by american critic susan sontag.
Aug 30, 2011 among her many identities novelist, playwright, film director and humanrights activist susan sontag was perhaps most widely known as a searing intellectual. Analysis of against interpretation by susan sontag bartleby. Against interpretation, by susan sontag the independent. Susan sontag created a sensation in the mid1960s with her essay against interpretation. Susan sontag 19332004 was born in manhattan and studied at the universities of chicago, harvard, and oxford. Against interpretation, and other essays by susan sontag. Rather than even attempt to synthesize sontag s far ranging criticism, i have decided to concentrate on a single piece of criticism which has had a profound influence on the way many people analyze film, myself included. Share with your friends the best quotes from against interpretation. Susan sontag january 16, 1933 december 28, 2004 was an american writer and filmmaker, professor, literary icon, and political activist. It was the 1960s that, in many ways, susan sontag represented besta time in america when it was fun to be an intellectual, when the worlds of high and low culture. How susan sontag taught me to think the new york times. Susan sontags seminal mid60s essay has come up several times at this site.
Reevaluation of sontag s seminal essay against interpretation. A book of convergences and against interpretation, by susan sontag from against interpretationthe weschler reading, which included photographs, leads to a. May 03, 2012 susan sontags article against interpretation tackles one of the most crucial issues art is facing in todays society. Home page current issue past issues reading room gallery. Where to start with susan sontag the new york public library. Echoes at ground zero, by lawrence weschler from everything that rises. Sontag has seemingly read everything, from sophocles to sartre, but has. Susan sontag, in against interpretation, takes a very interesting critical standpoint on the idea of literary interpretation. Its first two essaysagainst interpretation and on styleare so fascinating and so lucid that i am afraid my commentary can only impose a. The ideal or the dream would be to arrive at a language that heals as much as it separates. Against interpretation and other essays, by susan sontag its a little intimidating to try to comment upon this essay collection.
She achieved widespread recognition through her collections of essays, against interpretation 1966, on photography 1977 and regarding the pain of others 2004. She is the author of four novels, a collection of stories, several plays, and six books of essays, among them against interpretation and on photography. It is included in her 1966 collection against interpretation and other essays. Sontag had come to new york in the early 60s, eager to become the writer she so longed to become. The kind of interpretation that sontag is against is not the common, largely unconscious variety. Against interpretation by susan sontag essay example for. Rather than even attempt to synthesize sontags far ranging criticism, i have decided to concentrate on a single piece of criticism which has had a profound influence on the way many people analyze film, myself included. Feb 05, 2016 buy here you can find me here as well. The problem, of course, was that sontag was such a brilliant essayist against interpretation, notes on camp, illness as metaphor, these are all seminal works that.
Dec 30, 2015 susan sontags against interpretation a 1964 seminal essay is one of her most famous works. Against interpretation analysis and application youtube. Against interpretation was susan sontags first collection of essays and is a modern classic. Although she made it clear that she was not against all interpretation of works of art, her. Sep 09, 2015 on tap this week is susan sontags influential attack on a certain kind of intellectualist approach to art, in against interpretation 1964, reprinted in the collection against interpretation new york. Against interpretation, susan sontags second book, was published in 1966, but some of the essays date back to 1961, when she was still writing for the benefactor. I hold the book in my hands and see a woman in her forties who sits, glancing at the camera and the prospective reader. Sontag was a tall, handsome, fluent and articulate woman. Nearly a century later, susan sontag january 16, 1933december 28.
Beginning with a discussion of the problem of interpretation and hermeneutics in cultural criticism, susan sontag, herself. If one were to judge these essays in terms of price, their value would be very high. At her best and worst miss sontag offers three pennies worth of thought in any one sentence. Against interpretation and other essays quotes by susan sontag. Her ideas at the time of a writer was someone interested in everything. Obviously, whatever interpretation is, sontag seems against it. Beginning with the publication of her 1964 essay notes on camp, sontag became an international cultural and intellectual celebrity. Against interpretation and other essays penguin modern classics. Jan 01, 2005 reevaluation of sontags seminal essay against interpretation.
It includes some of sontag s bestknown works, including on style, and the eponymous essay against interpretation. As the name suggests, the essay is all about susans idea of what interpretation is, and why shes against it. Her first work of nonfiction, against interpretation, published in 1966, was a sweeping assessment of art and contemporary culture as well as an instant classic. Collection of sourced quotations from against interpretation 1966 by susan sontag. I end up thinking more highly of falling man than i did when i first read it, and liked it. Susan sontag, against interpretation and other essays. Complete summary of susan sontags 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 intellect.
On tap this week is susan sontags influential attack on a certain kind. Ive been busy rereading it since xmas, and want to take this chance to set down some thoughts regarding it. On sontags against interpretation a mind for madness. 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. No 16 against interpretation by susan sontag 1966 the american novelists early essays provide the quintessential commentary on the 60s robert mccrum. About against interpretation 15 against interpretation is an essay written by american critic susan sontag. Against interpretation was susan sontag s first collection of essays and is a modern classic.
Susan sontag 1933 2004 was an american writer, critic, cultural philosopher and political activist. Sep 09, 2016 against interpretation is a collection of critical essays written by susan sontag and published in book form in the early sixties in new york. In the last, sontag argues that in the new approach to aesthetics the spiritual importance of art is being replaced by the emphasis on the. Against interpretation is a collection of essays by susan sontag published in 1966. Against interpretation was susan sontags first collection of essays and made her. The main factor which determines sontags position in regards to art criticism is the fact that our society is one of excessiveness, especially in a generation thats media. Susan sontag susan sontag susan sontag, in against interpretation, takes a very interesting critical standpoint on the idea of literary interpretation. It includes some of sontags bestknown works, including on style, and the eponymous essay against interpretation. Sontags flawed analysis of the supposed ruination of the works of kafka by interpretation demonstrates that not only is she among this crowd, she has clearly. The earliest theory of art, that of the greek philosophers, proposed that art was mimesis, imitation of reality. Dec 29, 2004 susan sontag, the dark lady of american intellectual life for over four decades, has died of cancer.
Originally published in 1966, it has never gone out of print and has influenced generations of. Unlike most literary critics, sontag believes that literary criticism is growing increasingly destructive towards the very works of art that they, supposedly, so greatly appreciate and respect. It includes some of sontags bestknown works, including on style, notes on camp, and the titular essay against interpretation. Against interpretation and other essays, by susan sontag. This classic collection of essays and criticism from the 1960s flatters the readers intelligence without being intimidating. Susan sontag on the trouble with treating art and cultural material. According to sontag, the emphasis on contentbased art analysis stems from the early. It includes some of sontag s bestknown works, including on style, notes on camp, and the titular essay against interpretation. Against interpretation and other essays is a collection of essays by susan sontag which was published in 1966. Susan sontag was a novelist, essayist, filmmaker, playwright, and humanrights activist, among other things.
1622 1060 550 999 466 74 941 234 80 1365 866 907 1611 145 1406 1346 1405 566 1364 1583 483 986 1387 1509 353 571 458 550 690 992 544 1507 1010 432 802 176 1263 615 1459 439 465