Susan Sontag
American essayist and cultural critic who was the leading American intellectual of the second half of the 20th century. Against Interpretation argued for an erotics of art over interpretation; On Photography redefined how we think about photographic images; Illness as Metaphor demystified the rhetoric of disease. She was also a novelist and filmmaker.
Works
- The Volcano LoverNovel about obsession and desire centered on a volcanic Italian landscape
- In AmericaHistorical fiction about an actress's transformative American experience
- The BenefactorEarly novel exploring consciousness and moral philosophy through a protagonist's introspection
- Death KitExperimental novel about a woman's psychological unraveling and cinematic consciousness
- Against InterpretationEssays on interpretation, art, and the politics of form and meaning
- On PhotographyEssays examining photography's relationship to consciousness and modern reality
- Illness as MetaphorEssays analyzing illness as metaphor in language and cultural representation
- Regarding the Pain of OthersEssays on photography, witnessing, and ethical responsibility toward suffering