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Quote by Susan Sontag

“To camp is a mode of seduction... Behind the 'straight' public sense in which something can be taken, one has found a private zany experience of the thing.”

Quote by Susan Sontag

Book:A Susan Sontag reader

Work

A Susan Sontag reader

This reader compiles a selection of Susan Sontag's influential writings, covering a range of topics including literature, art, photography, and cultural theory. Sontag's work is known for its intellectual rigor and innovative perspectives on contemporary issues. more

Author

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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“Time may enhance what seems simply dogged or lacking in fantasy now because we are too close to it, because it resembles too closely our own everyday fantasies, the fantastic nature of which we don't perceive. We are better able to enjoy a fantasy as a fantasy when it is not our own.”

May Seems Able Enjoy Fantasy Everyday Fantastic Perceive Lacking

Book:A Susan Sontag reader

Source: A Susan Sontag reader

“The idea of content in art is today merely a hindrance, a nuisance, a subtle or not so subtle philistinism.”

Art Ideas Today Art Is Subtle Hindrance Nuisance

Author:Susan Sontag

“When something is just bad, it's often because it is too mediocre in its ambition. The artist hasn't attempted to do anything really outlandish.”

Artist Ambition Mediocrity Mediocre Outlandish

Author:Susan Sontag

“Camp is a solvent of morality. It neutralizes moral indignation, sponsors playfulness.”

Moral Morality Camps Indignation Sponsors Playfulness Moral Indignation

Book:A Susan Sontag reader

Source: A Susan Sontag reader

“Images have been reproached for being a way of watching suffering at a distance, as if there were some other way of watching.”

Ifs Way Has Beens Suffering Distance Observation

Book:Regarding the Pain of Others

Source: Regarding the Pain of Others

“And what do I mean by the word 'perfection'? That I shall not try to explain but only say, 'Perfection makes me laugh.' Not cynically, I hasten to add, 'With joy.”

Trying Mean Joy Laughing Perfection Add Make Me Laugh

Book:At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches

Source: At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches

“Just as a camera is a sublimation of the gun, to photograph someone is a subliminal murder - a soft murder, appropriate to a sad, frightened time.”

Gun Murder Cameras Photograph Appropriate Frightened Subliminal

Author:Susan Sontag

“One can be serious about the frivolous, frivolous about the serious.”

Play Serious Frivolous

Book:A Susan Sontag reader

Source: A Susan Sontag reader

“Camp taste turns its back on the good-bad axis of ordinary aesthetic judgment. Camp doesn't reverse things. It doesn't argue that the good is bad, or the bad is good. What it does is to offer for art, and life, a different - a supplementary - set of standards.”

Doe Art Different Turns Taste Offers Judgment Standards Ordinary Arguing Camps Aesthetic Reverse Axes Art And Life

Book:A Susan Sontag reader

Source: A Susan Sontag reader

“To emphasize style is to slight content, or to introduce an attitude which is neutral with respect to content.”

Attitude Style Introducing

Book:A Susan Sontag reader

Source: A Susan Sontag reader