R.I.P Susan Sontag:
Susan Sontag, one of giants of public intellectualism, has died at 71. The cause is not yet known. Sontag was the author of thirteen books including what many consider the definitive essays on illness, photography, and “camp” culture. She’s been awarded the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and a MacArthur “genius” fellowship.
I became acquainted with Sontag’s work in graduate school when my thesis advisor recommended I read her book On Photography for my study of depression-era tabloid photographer Weegee. On Photography may be the single best book ever written on the subject of taking pictures and is so compulsively readable that I have gone back to it several times since just for fun. I haven’t read any of her other books, but always meant to.
Sontag had a reputation for being headstrong, uncompromising and a bit of an old world literary snob. Though I didn’t car for that side of her, her intellect, diligence and commitment to a life of the mind were second to none. I will miss her.