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Quote by Susan Sontag

Work

Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963

This book is a compilation of the author's journals and notebooks, offering a glimpse into their personal life and reflections during the specified time period. more

Author

Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag

Susan Sontag was an American writer, critic, and photographer. Known for her unique literary style and profound thinking, her work spans various fields including literature, art, and politics. Born on January 16, 1933, she passed away on December 28, 2004. more

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“A lot of what I've written in criticism of my lust for virtue - my discovery that I've committed idolatry, making of the good an idol - is open to the charge of being still caught within the dialectic of idolatry. I've made a moral criticism of my moral consciousness. Meta-idolatry.”

MadeStillsConsciousnessMoralVirtueWrittenMoralityDiscoveryCriticismCaughtCommittedLustIdolsIdolatryDialectics
Book:As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980
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“Cinema is a kind of pan-art. It can use, incorporate, engulf virtually any other art: the novel, poetry, theater, painting, sculpture, dance, music, architecture. Unlike opera, which is a (virtually) frozen art form, the cinema is and has been a fruitfully conservative medium of ideas and styles of emotions.”

KindHas BeensArtIdeasUseFormEmotionNovelStylePaintingTheaterConservativeArchitectureMediumsCinemaMovieOperaFrozenSculptureDance Music
Author:Susan Sontag
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“I feel inauthentic at a party. ... Going to a party is a 'low' activity - the authentic self is compromised, fragmented - one plays 'roles.' One isn't fully present, beyond role-playing. One doesn't (can't) tell the full truth, which means one is lying, even if one doesn't literally tell lies.”

IfsFeelsMeanSelfPlayTruthLyingPartyRolesActivityLowsAuthentic SelfFragmentedRole Playing
Book:As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980
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“Photography - the supreme form of travel, of tourism - is the principal modern means for enlarging the world. As a branch of art, photography's enterprise of world enlargement tends to specialize in the subjects felt to be challenging, transgressive. A photograph may be telling us: this too exists. And that. And that. (And it is all 'human.') But what are we to do with this knowledge - if indeed it is knowledge, about, say, the self, about abnormality, about ostracized or clandestine worlds?”

IfsWorldHumansMayMeanArtSelfFormFeltChallengesModernSubjectsPhotographyPhotographSupremeBranchesEnterprisePrincipalTourismEnlargementAbnormalityClandestineArt Photography
Author:Susan Sontag
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