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Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors Paperback – December 1, 1989

by
Susan Sontag (Author)
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Susan Sontag (Author)
4 out of 5 stars 23 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Anchor; Reprint edition (December 1, 1989)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385267053
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385267052
  • Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 5.2 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,631,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThis book changed my life
By Carey on July 26, 2004
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This is a quote from the book that I would consider its thesis statement:

'Theories that diseases are caused by mental states and can be cured by will power are always an index of how much is not understood about a disease.

Moreover, there is a peculiarly modern predilection for psychological explanations of disease...Psychologizing seems to provide control...over which people have no control. Psychological understanding undermines the 'reality' of a disease.'

Sontag traces, historically, the ways different diseases and the people who contracted them have been viewed. She spends time discussing tuberculars--waif-like, pale, romantic--and cancer patients--repressed, the 'cancer personality,' shame--then goes on to debunk these notions by stating that once the cause, cure, innoculation is found, the 'myth' or popular psychology of the disease no longer holds.

In this edition, in the final chapter about AIDS and its metaphors Sontag writes that she'd written the first part of the book (all but the AIDS chapter) while a cancer patient and in response to reactions she saw in fellow patients. She saw guilt and shame; and she saw these as impediments to people's treatments. For she knew she had an illness and she set about to cure it medically, in the best possible way, while others passively accepted the 'metaphor' handed to them and, thus, did less to help themselves best. She felt frustrated or saddened by their psychologizing and self-blame and wished to write to others that their physical illness is a physical illness and the best route to recovery is to think only of how to find the best medical treatment.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsSontag's metaphors: A must read for any essay enthusiast
By joshua.rhein@diasorin.com on January 16, 1999
Format: Paperback
Even if we hadn't evolved the ability to think sensibly about the world around us, disease would have continued to be a major factor in Homo sapien debilitation and mortality. Conversely, if conscious beings had been born to a world free of disease, they would have still tried to find out how their universe functioned, and they probably would have employed the metaphor as an aid for conceptualizing notions not well understood. But for whatever reason, human beings did attain the ability to think critically about their surroundings, which happened to be a world filled with diseases. It should come as no surprise than that illness and disease, concepts sometimes etiologically and often morally incomprehensible, are often the subject for metaphors; an inevitable consequence of human insight intermingling with mysterious biological forces. In the view of the cultural critic Susan Sontag, however, metaphorizing illness and- perhaps more importantly- using illness as a metaphor can have damaging consequences for those afflicted.
In her pair of related essays, Illness as a Metaphor and AIDS and its Metaphors, Susan Sontag reveals many of the metaphors surrounding such influential diseases as tuberculosis, cancer, syphilis, and AIDS. While she does acknowledge the necessity of the metaphor for human understanding, throughout her assays she argues that there "aren't some metaphors we might well abstain from or try to retire". Although this important point should by no means be taken lightly, the true worth in her essays is the skill in which she uncovers these metaphors and explains (she is, after all, against interpretation) the stigmatizing affects of the myths they create.
Sontag does not limit the scope to which she describes the metaphors.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsGreat stuff, with a caveat...
By A Customer on September 1, 2000
Format: Paperback
I've read only the original essay (Illness as Metaphor) so will
comment on that alone. The book is an excellent antidote to the
overemphasis on psychological causes for physical illness that is
current in society and, especially, in the "new age"
community. Well worth reading and digesting for that purpose.
This
said, I do think [the text] overstates the case somewhat. There is
a body of empirical evidence showing, for example, links between
mental state and immune function. This link would, in principle, be
expected to influence the incidence of both infective disease and
cancer. For example, only a fraction of those who are infected with
T.B. develop clinical disease, and stress may play a role in
activating latent disease in those who are chronically infected. In
polio, the situation is even more extreme, as only about one pecent of
those who are infected develop clinical disease. Thus, for many
infective diseases, there is a marked difference between rates of
infection and rates of "symptomaticity." It seems likely
that the mind and mental state is one (but certainly not the only!)
factor that influences whether an infection becomes clinical
illness.
Similarly, in cancer, as I understand it, all of us are
constantly experiencing mutations that have the potential to become
cancerous. But most of these mutations are eliminated, before they do
harm, by the operation of various "survaliance" systems
(including the immune system) in the body. Thus, the onset of cancer
may involve an escape from survaliance. To the extent that mental
state affects immune function, the mind could affect the appearance of
cancer.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

Very good

Published 3 months ago by MAX JAY
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

she knew roaring and realpolitik

Published 6 months ago by 80th aero squadron
2.0 out of 5 starsThe book was supposed to be in "a very good condition, " but it is

The book was supposed to be in "a very good condition," but it is, in fact, only in an acceptable one. Read more

Published 15 months ago by Marta
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

perfect....timely, in good shape
thank you

Published 19 months ago by m clifford
5.0 out of 5 starswas exactly what i was looking for!

was exactly what i was looking for!was exactly what i was looking for!

Published 21 months ago by Juan Acosta
3.0 out of 5 starsInteresting, but overrated

This book was recommended to me soooo many times when I was interviewing at medical schools, and sat on my to-read list forever. I think it is some sort of classic or something. Read more

Published 22 months ago by Mae
5.0 out of 5 starsAmazingly well-written and researched.

Fascinating. I had heard of Ms. Sontang over the years, but this is the first time I've ever read one of her works. Read more

Published on October 4, 2013 by Wayne Hall
4.0 out of 5 starsrefreshing perspectives on the issue

Sontag was one of the best intellectual voices of our time that spoke about universal topics from her unique and analytical perspectives. Read more

Published on July 24, 2013 by whj
4.0 out of 5 starsPublisher finish lacking

The book did not have a glossary or an index at the back to identify concepts in the book and I believe this was unprofessional. The publishers should have sorted that out. Read more

Published on April 4, 2013 by Denise Bjorkman
5.0 out of 5 starsChange Your Life

It is a brilliant stroke to unite Illness as metaphor and Aids and Its Metaphors, as the two studies, written decades apart, speak seamlessly to one another. Read more

Published on November 16, 2012 by L.S. Federer

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