World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Susan Sontag

スーザン・ソンタグ

Susan Sontag

Aliases: Susan Lee Rosenblatt / Susan Lee Sontag

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1933-01-16 (New York City)
Died
2004-12-28 (New York City) age 71
Nationality
American
Languages
English
Religion
None
Residence History
Long Island, New York → Tucson, Arizona → San Fernando Valley, California → New York City → Paris

Career

Occupations
Essayist, Novelist, Filmmaker, Critic, Public intellectual
Active Years
1959-2004
Affiliations
PEN American Center (President 1989)
Memberships
Member of American Academy of Arts and Letters
Influenced By
Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon, Kenneth Burke, Hans Heinrich Gerth
Influenced
Numerous contemporary critics

Education

University of Chicago
Philosophy, Literature, Ancient History
Degree: BA
Period: 1949-1951
Year of Graduation: 1951
Country: United States
Elected to Phi Beta Kappa
Harvard University
Philosophy and Theology
Degree: MA
Period: 1950s
Year of Graduation: 1955
Country: United States
Studied with Perry Miller, Paul Tillich et al.
St Anne's College, Oxford
Period: 1957-1958
Country: United Kingdom
With Iris Murdoch et al.
University of Paris (Sorbonne)
Period: 1957-1959
Country: France
Formative intellectual period

Awards

National Book Award
2000
Work: In America
Category: Fiction
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: Winner
National Book Critics Circle Award
1977
Work: On Photography
Category: Criticism
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: Winner
MacArthur Fellowship
1990
Organization: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Result: Fellow
Jerusalem Prize
2001
Result: Winner
Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels
2003
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Against Interpretation

1966 Essay collection

Collection of essays critiquing art interpretation, including famous 'Notes on Camp'.

Art interpretationCamp

On Photography

1977 Essays

Explores cultural and social impact of photography.

PhotographyVisual culture

Illness as Metaphor

1978 Nonfiction

Critiques metaphors of illness.

IllnessMetaphor

The Volcano Lover

1992 Novel

Historical novel about Lord and Lady Hamilton.

HistoryLove

In America

2000 Novel

Historical novel based on Helena Modjeska.

ImmigrationTheater

Bibliography

  • The Benefactor
  • Death Kit
  • Against Interpretation
  • Styles of Radical Will
  • On Photography
  • Under the Sign of Saturn
  • Illness as Metaphor
  • The Volcano Lover
  • In America
  • Regarding the Pain of Others

Adaptations

  • Directed Waiting for Godot in Sarajevo

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Intellectual and criticalExperimentalPolyphonic
Recurring Motifs
PhotographyIllnessWarCampHigh and low culture

Health

  • Myelodysplastic syndrome → Acute myelogenous leukemia
    2004
    Cause of death

Legacy

Influential 20th-century critic and writer known for essays on culture, photography, illness, and war.

Archives

  • UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library digital archive

In Popular Culture

  • Sarajevo's Theater Square renamed Susan Sontag Theater Square

Quotes

  • The white race is the cancer of human history.
    Source: Partisan Review (1967)
  • Photographs are a way of collecting the world.
    Source: On Photography (1977)

Trivia

  • Bisexual
  • Directed Waiting for Godot during Siege of Sarajevo
  • Long-term partner of Annie Leibovitz