Against Interpretation: And Other Essays (Paperback)

~ (Author) "THE earliest experience of art must have been that it was incantatory, magical; art was an instrument of ritual..." (more)
Key Phrases: implacable values, radical juxtaposition, spiritual style, New York, Vivre Sa Vie, The Deputy (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A dazzling intellectual performance." -- Vogue

"Susan Sontag's essays are great interpretations, and even fulfillments, of what is really going on." -- Carlos Fuentes

"Susan Sontag's essays are great interpretations, and even fulfillments, of what is really going on."--Carlos Fuentes

"A dazzling intellectual performance."--Vogue

"Susan Sontag is a writer of rare energy and provocative newness."--The Nation

"The theoretical portions of her book are delightful to read because she can argue so well. . . . 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
-- Review

Review

"Susan Sontag's essays are great interpretations, and even fulfillments, of what is really going on."--Carlos Fuentes

"A dazzling intellectual performance."--Vogue

"Susan Sontag is a writer of rare energy and provocative newness."--The Nation

"The theoretical portions of her book are delightful to read because she can argue so well. . . . 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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Picador; 1st edition (August 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312280866
• ISBN-13: 978-0312280864
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,161 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Susan Sontag's first bunch of essays., November 11, 2003

By	"ranagrossa" (Milan, Italy) - See all my reviews

This is historically the first delivery of the now world-renowned essays by Susan Sontag. Mrs Sontag considers herself primarily a novelist: and,of course, she has every right to do so, but I have the feeling that her novels do not come near in any way to her essays' quality.
In this batch, which is arguably her most famous one, although probably not her best, you can feel all young Sontag's vigour and fire. She is often far nastier in tone than in her later works. She tears to pieces John Gielgud's staging of Hamlet, Gyorgy Lukacs's literary criticism, calls George Steiner "superficial"(!), and destroys contemporary American novelists (they're obsessed with "content" intended as a discussion of moral issues).
The most beautiful piece in this collection are probably the "Notes on Camp". Camp is something which should not be either too beautiful or too ugly; it moves the "connaisseur" because, through its outdated or timelessly ridiculous exterior, it can be felt as the product of an earnest endeavour, a result of the investment of human passion.
Some other essays are more superficial than accustomed, and in the Preface, Sontag aknowledges that she maybe could have taken away some, which were written as simple reviews for magazines. But we can still find the characteristic quality of Sontag's "writing" (meaning "écriture" as defined by Roland Barthes, for those who follow...); an endless redefining, putting into perspective each word or concept introduced, which means that really everything is left in suspence and subject to caution, pointing towards new research to be done.

44 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sontag's best book, December 6, 2003

By	T. Baughman "thmsbaughman" (Massillon, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

To begin with: It is time for people to stop ranting about Ms. Sontag's opinions about 9-11. LET IT GO, PEOPLE! Shut up and read this book. It will open a whole world of art and ideas for you. You will discover a series of brilliant discussions of Sartre, Beckett, Claude Levi-Strauss, Godard, Robert Bresson, Michel Leiris, Alain Resnais and Norman O. Brown. Moreover, read and consider the famous essays "Against Interpretation," "On Style" and "Notes on Camp." In the end, you will find that these essays have greatly influenced your aesthetic sensibilities. You will also find yourself seeking out the works of the writers and filmmakers discussed in this book. What more can a reader ask for?

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and inspirational, December 4, 2005

By	fm (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

I went to this collection after recently purchasing Camille Paglia's latest critical reading of forty-three poems in Break, Blow, Burn. In the dust cover notes, Paglia is described as "America's premier intellectual provocateur." I had always thought that honor belonged to Sontag.

Sontag's collection contains some of her most famous essays and some rather obscure ones. Instead of the most famous, I found myself re-reading the less widely discussed ones, like the essay "Godard's Vivre Sa Vie" and "Happenings: an art of radical juxtaposition" and "A note on novels and films." These essays gave me something new to think about and re-introduced me to Sontag's renowned intellect. They inspired me to buy a few Godard DVDs from Amazon, to attend the Festival of New French Cinema here in Chicago this past weekend and they caused me to ruminate on the contemporary examples of "happenings."

Whether you agree with Sontag's opinions or not, you will probably agree after reading this selection that the depth and breadth of her interests and knowledge is impressive. And she thought and wrote about things that most, even academics, had not been willing to take on. For that, we should be appreciative. For her willingness to be a true public intellectual, we should be grateful. For her legacy to the realm of critical theory, we are indebted.