Reverting to a more primitive and sensual, almost magical experience of art is what Sontag desires; even though that is quite impossible due to the thickened layers of hermeneutics that surround interpretation of art and that have grown to be recognised and respected. Well worth the time spent. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Against Interpretation, and Other Essays is a collection of twenty-seven essays and reviews which Susan Sontag, once the darling of the New … Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2016. Good reference book. Looked at in retrospect, one of the surprising things about the late 1950s and early 1960s is just how superior we were given to believe French culture was. A series of provocative discussions on everything from individual authors to contemporary religious thinking, Against Interpretation and Other Essays is the definitive collection of Susan Sontag's best known and important works published in Penguin Modern Classics. I am old enough to remember the early 1960s. The nouvelle vague was then at its height and consequently their film industry was the last word in cool. What, then, does Sontag mean by “interpretation”? Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays (FSG Classics). Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors, Susan Sontag: Essays of the 1960s & 70s (LOA #246): Against Interpretation / Styles of Radical Will / On Photography / Illness as Metaphor / ... (Library of America Susan Sontag Edition), As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980, Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963. They were left-wing; they smoked and hung around in bars and cafes on the Left Bank, discussing the meaning of meaning; they listened to cool jazz; and they had theories that were so complicated that they burst through the boundaries of everyday language into the most abstruse abstractions. ‘New’ prime books are likely to be poor quality reprints. In fact, so well did Sontag learn at the foot of the master that Notes on “Camp”, the stand-out essay in this book, could almost be a chapter from his own classic collection of essays Mythologies. ... as long as I can remember and was supremely disappointed. Most people have forgotten about or never learned about seminal figures such as Jack Smith, but Sontag deals with him, as well as Happenings, surrealism, and John Cage, from a decidedly francophile perspective. There was a problem loading your book clubs. “Against Interpretation” in Against Interpretation and other Essays. Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2014. Her ideas are consistently stimulating.” ―Commentary“She has come to symbolize the writer and thinker in many variations: as analyst, rhapsodist, and roving eye, as public scold and portable conscience.” ―Time. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 27, 2019. Ms.Sontag is heavy going! Spine may show signs of wear. There's a problem loading this menu right now. Susan Sontag. It includes some of Sontag's best-known works, including "On Style," and the eponymous essay "Against Interpretation." And perhaps, above all, their intellectuals had a sophistication and popularity the intellectuals of other nations could not match. Similarly with avant-garde paintings, or experimental music, or theater of the absurd – we TRIED to understand them. In the latter, Sontag argues that in the new approach to aesthetics the spiritual importance of art is being replaced by the emphasis on the intellect.… Always useful. Where this type of interpretation was seen to resolve conflict between past and present by revamping an art work and maintaining a certain level of respect and honour, Sontag believes that the modern style of interpretation has lost sensitivity and rather strives to “excavate...destroy”[2] a piece of art. Her non-fiction works include A gainst Interpretation, On Photography, Illness as Metaphor, AIDS and its Metaphors and Regarding the Pain of Others. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Sontag daringly challenges Marxian and Freudian theories, claiming they are “aggressive and impious”.[3]. Includes the essay "Notes on Camp," the inspiration for the 2019 exhibition Notes on Fashion: Camp at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Against Interpretation was Susan Sontag's first collection of essays and is a modern classic. Please try again. There’s no way to know what you are going to get (angry emoji), Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2019, Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2018, Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2016. Her standpoint could not be more accurate. He added, "...the essays are unfailingly stimulating. "Against Interpretation" is Sontag's influential essay within Against Interpretation and Other Essays that discusses the divisions between two different kinds of art criticism and theory: that of formalist interpretation, and that of content-based interpretation. As well as the title essay and the famous “Notes on Camp,” Against Interpretationincludes original and provocative discussions of Sartre, Simone Weil, Godard, Beckett, science-fiction movies, psychoanalysis, and contemporary religious thinking. They knew more about sex than other nations and, moreover, knew how to enjoy it, lots of it allegedly. She believes that interpretation of the modern style has a particular “taming” effect: reducing the freedom of a subjective response and placing limitations or certain rules upon a responder. Her ideas at the time of a writer was someone interested in “everything.” . I have wanted to read a Sontag book for as long as I can remember and was supremely disappointed. Sontag objects to critics' need to decode or translate literature into it's "meaning" or "content," divorcing it in … She talks about the past with the present interpretation. Originally published in 1966, it has never gone out of print and has influenced generations of … En anglais.. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. And the artists and intellectuals she discusses – Nietzsche, Camus, Godard, Barthes etc – demonstrate that she knew which horses to back. It includes some of Sontag's best-known works, including "On Style", "Notes on 'Camp'", and the title essay "Against Interpretation". There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Sontag’s criticism was marked by a formalist aversion to content. Against Interpretation By Susan Sontag Essay Susan Sontag, in “Against Interpretation,” takes a very interesting critical standpoint on the idea of literary interpretation. I do not understand how to report this amazon prime scam. "[6] Brandon Robshaw of The Independent later observed, "This classic collection of essays and criticism from the 1960s flatters the reader's intelligence without being intimidating." Sontag asserts that the modern style is quite harmful; to art and to audiences alike, enforcing hermeneutics -- fallacious, complicated “readings” that seem to engulf an artwork, to the extent that analysis of content begins to degrade, to destroy. Still updated!! As the name suggests, the essay is all about Susan’s idea of what interpretation is, and why she’s against it. They have taken a print of the original copy. The earliest theory of art, that Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Rather than even attempt to synthesize Sontag’s far ranging criticism, I have decided to concentrate on a single piece of criticism which has had a profound influence on the way many people analyze film, myself included. Please try again. Against Interpretation is a collection of essays by Susan Sontag published in 1966. Maybe its me. [8], "Against Interpretation, By Susan Sontag", Page for Against Interpretation on official Sontag site, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Against_Interpretation&oldid=999249026, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 9 January 2021, at 06:16. 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