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Quote by Susan Sontag

“Ours is an age which consciously pursues health, and yet only believes in the reality of sickness.”

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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“The truth of history crowds out the truth of fiction - as if one were obliged to choose between them.”

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Book:At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches

Source: At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches

“Illnesses have always been used as metaphors to enliven charges that a society was corrupt or unjust.”

Used Metaphor Illness Unjust

Book:Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors

Source: Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors

“Fatal illness has always been viewed as a test of moral character, but in the nineteenth century there is a great reluctance to let anybody flunk the test.”

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Book:Illness as metaphor

Source: Illness as metaphor

“Any disease that is treated as a mystery and acutely enough feared will be felt to be morally, if not literally, contagious.”

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Author:Susan Sontag

“Images anesthetize. An event known through photographs certainly becomes more real than it would have been if one had never seen the photographs ... But after repeated exposure to images it also becomes less real. ... 'concerned' photography has done at least as much to deaden conscience as to arouse it.”

Ifs Has Beens Real Done Known Events Photography Conscience Concerned Photograph Exposure

Author:Susan Sontag

“People tend to become cynical about even the most appalling crisis if it seems to be dragging on, failing to come to term.”

People Ifs Seems Term Failing Crisis Cynical Impatience

Book:Antonin Artaud, Selected Writings

Source: Antonin Artaud, Selected Writings

“America was founded on a genocide, on the unquestioned assumption of the right of white Europeans to exterminate a resident, technologically backward, colored population in order to take over the continent.”

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Author:Susan Sontag

“Decline of the letter, the rise of the notebook! One doesn't write to others any more; one writes to oneself.”

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Book:As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980

Source: As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980

“Superficial to understand the journal as just a receptable for one's private, secret thoughts - like a confidante who is deaf, dumb, and illiterate. In the journal I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any person; I create myself. ... The journal is a vehicle for my sense of selfhood. It represents me as emotionally and spiritually independent. Therefore (alas) it does not simply record my actual, daily life but rather - in many cases - offers an alternative to it.”

Persons Doe Secret Cases Records Offers Independent Alternatives Dumb Daily Life Vehicle Journal Superficial Alas Deaf Sense Of Self Illiterate Journaling Keeping A Journal Secret Thoughts

Author:Susan Sontag

“A good listener: a physical presence that is warm, alert, intelligent - more important than any words.”

Important Listening Intelligent Warm Listeners Good Listener

Book:As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980

Source: As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980