Comments on: Death of Susan Sontag

By: sm

sm — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 03:30:16 +0000

“How come she got away with this?” Well, this week alone she’s been repeatedly hammered for it.

By: Whte man

Whte man — Sun, 02 Jan 2005 15:39:34 +0000

Brilliant she might have been…but why this obscure hate against white people. The famous line from “What’s happening in America” that the white race is the worst cancer ever upon the face og the earth. How come she got away with this? Consider these words being said about her people, the Jews. That would have been quite a different thing.. I wont miss someone comparing my race with cancer. /Kristofer

By: Anderson

Anderson — Thu, 30 Dec 2004 16:25:57 +0000

So now Republicans are against vowels? Why? Because there aren't any in the original Old Testament? Sheesh. I think Sontag was over the top on some of her Vietnam-era criticisms, but (1) that wasn't unique and (2) it was a stupid, ill-fought, ill-conceived war. Let's excoriate the people Halberstam depicted in The Best and the Brightest, not the Sontags of the world.

By: John Williams

John Williams — Thu, 30 Dec 2004 02:23:32 +0000

Sntg wh nfmsl clld th Wht Rc “Th Cncr f Hstr” hs nw flln frm cncr. Th sm Sntg wh wnt t Nrth Vtnm nd chrd n th sldrs kllng S trps, yrs bfr Jn Fnd. M sh nt rst n pc, nd Gd nt hv mrc n hr msrbl sl.

By: pedro

pedro — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 16:27:19 +0000

I took a course on Ingmar Bergman a couple of years ago, and I remember quite vividly how immensely superior Sontag’s insights into the film ‘Persona’ were to those of any other piece of criticism I read in the course.

By: fyreflye

fyreflye — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 16:22:16 +0000

Another excellent obit in the San Francisco Chronicle: http://tinyurl.com/6qemt Who would have thought of Sontag as a California Girl?

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 15:08:41 +0000

Bob: Thank you for the sources.

By: i.iordanov

i.iordanov — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 10:36:07 +0000

And here is the obituary in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/obituary/0,12723,1380529,00.html

By: bob mcmanus

bob mcmanus — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 02:12:59 +0000

“That’s a great line. Does anyone know the exact source?” Well it has been more than thirty years, and I was paraphrasing , so forgive inaccuracy. But I am pretty sure you will find the idea in Styles of Radical Will, the essay “Whats Happening in America(1966)”. I am fairly certain of the book, but there is another essay called “Trip to Hanoi”.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 01:39:16 +0000

“some line during the sixties about how people on the coasts who thought America opposed the Vietnam war understood neither America or the war.” That’s a great line. Does anyone know the exact source?

By: Ophelia Benson

Ophelia Benson — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 00:21:04 +0000

The NY Times wasn’t that bad. They phoned Arthur Danto… (Oh well I shouldn’t say that though, because I haven’t read the whole thing. Never mind. Just a bit of credit for phoning Danto.)

By: Arthur Durant

Arthur Durant — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 00:09:23 +0000

Susan Sontag emanated from the “upper and lower crust” of american intellectualism and social thought. This beacon of light and wit will be sorely missed, especially in light of the “dumming down” that we are witnessing in this society.

By: Bosko

Bosko — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 23:29:42 +0000

The LA Times does a better job than the NY Times on Sontag’s obit – which, I guess, says a lot – about much. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-122804sontag_lat,0,2512373.story?coll=la-home-obituaries

By: fyreflye

fyreflye — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 23:13:41 +0000

She was hated in her heyday by the same kind of people who now hate Mrs Clinton and for much the same reason. You do not have to “agree” with a brilliant critic to see that she is brilliant.

By: Ophelia Benson

Ophelia Benson — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 23:03:01 +0000

Damn.