To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. 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. To Sontag, modernity means a loss of sensory experience and she believes (in corroboration with her theory of the damaging nature of criticism) that the pleasure of art is diminished by such overload of the senses. Similarly with avant-garde paintings, or experimental music, or theater of the absurd – we TRIED to understand them. They knew more about sex than other nations and, moreover, knew how to enjoy it, lots of it allegedly. the paintings in the caves at Lascaux, Altamira, Niaux, La Pasiega, etc.) 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. 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. Academia.edu is a platform for academics to share research papers. Sontag looks to differentiate the content from the art, judging the value of the art by Patriotism Argumentative Essay art itself rather than what it represents. We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Please try your request again later. 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. 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. Against Interpretation was Susan Sontag's first collection of essays and is a modern classic. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less It had the best food and wine; cuisine was after all a French word. Although I can’t really say that I learned anything new from reading them, or that they transformed my viewpoint on anything, or that I gained any new insights, I don’t regret the experience. Please try again. The key … Susan Sontag addresses this in her essay Against Interpretation, which was published in by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 27, 2019. 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. What is it to understand a work of art? Well worth the time spent. Today, by contrast, I sense many of us no longer approach modern art and philosophy with any attempt at all to seriously engage with it. “Against Interpretation” in Against Interpretation and other Essays. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. 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. Good reference book. That is, to approach art works with a strong emphasis on form, to “reveal the sensuous surface of art without mucking about in it.”[5]. Sontag objects to critics' need to decode or translate literature into it's "meaning" or "content," divorcing it in … I am old enough to remember the early 1960s. ... as long as I can remember and was supremely disappointed. The key French ideas are all here. Complicated language which just goes on and on. 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. 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. It includes some of Sontag's best-known works, including 'On Style,' and the eponymous essay 'Against Interpretation.' Add a gift receipt for easy returns. Unable to add item to List. He added, "...the essays are unfailingly stimulating. One of the most fascinating reflection on the art critic!! Sontag, in New York, was at the center of a phenomenal cultural change in the arts. 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. He concluded, "Miss Sontag has written a ponderable, vivacious, beautifully living and quite astonishingly American book. 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. Against interpretation and other essays by susan sontag for sample questionnaire for thesis Posted by profession of arms essay on 5 August 2020, 6:24 pm S. Melendez, the office manager orders basic office supplies, such as choco our names appeared on diversityin s list of … She discusses and mixes the ideas of other writers and further differentiates two kinds of interpretation – form based interpretation and content based interpretation. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. Susan Sontag Susan Sontag Susan Sontag, in Against Interpretation, takes a very interesting critical standpoint on the idea of literary interpretation.Unlike most literary critics, Sontag believes that literary criticism is growing increasingly destructive towards the very works of art that they, supposedly, so greatly appreciate and respect. This most recent edition features a new afterword by Sontag. Against Interpretation was Susan Sontag's first collection of essays and is a modern classic. The French intellectual that leaves the largest trace on Against Interpretation is Roland Barthes. Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays (FSG Classics). The chief commodity of Susan Sontag's Against Interpretation, according to its author and her reviewers, is a modern sensibility.Stress the modernity here, since she is distinguished less by a decided or passionate point of view (compare her as a film critic, for example, with two such disparate personalities as James Agee and Kenneth Tynan) than by an eagerness to explore anything new. . Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2018, The printing has been done by a third party. I will persevere but it is not a book for a good read. Susan Sontag in her essay “Against Interpretation” focuses on what an interpretation really is. As the name suggests, the essay is all about Susan’s idea of what interpretation is, and why she’s against it. On Sontag's essays “Against Interpretation” (1964), “On Style” (1965), and "The Death of Tragedy” (1963). Her first work of nonfiction, Against Interpretation, published in 1966, was a sweeping assessment of art and contemporary culture — as well as an instant classic. Susan Sontag (/ ˈ s ɒ n t æ ɡ /; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, filmmaker, philosopher, teacher, and political activist. And Sontag is all about being serious in one’s approach to art, theater, cinema and literature. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. Prices are hidden. Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2014. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. There's a problem loading this menu right now. Please try again. Sontag’s seminal essay ‘Against Interpretation’ is a vehement rejection of the approach adopted by New Critics. With her insatiable appetite for creativity in all its forms, Sontag produces a collection of essays that is an ambitious work. Ms.Sontag is heavy going! As a student of the 1960's, this essay collection is a really wonderful asset. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 13, 2016. 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. "Against Interpretation is a collection of essays by Susan Sontag published in 1966. "[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." "[7], In their introduction to Critique and Postcritique (2017), Rita Felski and Elizabeth S. Anker argue that the title essay from Sontag's collection has played an important role in the field of postcritique, a movement within literary criticism and cultural studies that attempts to find new forms of reading and interpretation that go beyond the methods of critique, critical theory, and ideological criticism. In the latter, Sontag argues that the new approach to criticism and aesthetics neglects the sensuous impact of art, replacing it with tame intellectual interpretations and emphasis on the "content" or "meaning" of a work. La compréhension est simple et vrai. . Against Interpretation is a collection of essays by Susan Sontag published in 1966. 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. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Though they bear the stamp of their time, Sontag was remarkably prescient; her project of analysing popular culture as well as high culture, the Doors as well as Dostoevsky, is now common practice throughout the educated world. Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2018. The language is dry and very technical, Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2015. Spine may show signs of wear. Sontag also refers to the contemporary world as one of “overproduction... material plentitude”,[4] where one's physical senses have been dulled and annihilated by mass production and complex interpretation to the extent that appreciation of the form of art has been lost. In the latter, Sontag argues that the new approach to criticism and aesthetics neglects the sensuous impact of art, replacing it with tame intellectual interpretations and emphasis on the "content" or "meaning" of a work. The modern style of interpretation is particularly despised by Sontag in relation to the previous classical style of interpretation that sought to “bring artworks up to date”, to meet modern interests and apply allegorical readings. Sontag spelled out this critical program in her 1964 essay, “Against Interpretation,” which now appears in the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism in its most recent third edition—the sure sign of her domestication by American humanities. Does she mean any and all interpretation, as my … 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.… Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2016. Art has to be analysed through our senses, intuition and not with the intellect. Susan Sontag. I do not understand how to report this amazon prime scam. Susan Sontag addresses this in her essay Against Interpretation, which was published in 1966 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. And perhaps, above all, their intellectuals had a sophistication and popularity the intellectuals of other nations could not match. “The ideal or the dream would be to arrive at a language that heals as much as it separates.” ― Susan Sontag, Against Interpretation and Other Essays The language is dry and very technical, I read some of it, but, couldn't get engaged enough to finish this. Against Interpretation is a collection of essays by Susan Sontag published in 1966. This was a ground breaking collection of essays back in the late sixites and it has proved its relevance to topical issues like the connection between content and style in a range of media, cinema, novels and visual arts right into the new millennium. Originally published in 1966, it has never gone out of print and has influenced generations of readers all over the world. Still updated!! Sontag daringly challenges Marxian and Freudian theories, claiming they are “aggressive and impious”.[3]. And the artists and intellectuals she discusses – Nietzsche, Camus, Godard, Barthes etc – demonstrate that she knew which horses to back. She is also the author of four novels, a collection of stories and several plays. Sontag is strongly averse to what she considers to be contemporary interpretation, that is, an overabundance of importance placed upon the content or meaning of an artwork rather than being keenly alert to the sensuous aspects of a given work and developing a descriptive vocabulary for how it appears and how it does whatever it does. Something went wrong. As the name suggests, the essay is all about Susan’s idea of what interpretation is, and why she’s against it. Please try again. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. For one thing, it reminded me of my college years, when so many of us earnestly went to see French New Wave films or other “art films” by Ingmar Bergman or the Italian directors, and then we would discuss them in dorm rooms or the student union later on, and pretend that we knew what we were talking about. Against Interpretation (1966) - Susan Sontag [Amazon.com] Description Against Interpretation and Other Essays is a collection of essays by Susan Sontag which was published in 1966. In this way, Sontag asserts that inevitably, the modern style of interpretation separates form and content in a manner that damages an artwork and one's own sensorial appreciation of a piece. What, then, does Sontag mean by “interpretation”? It’s cheap and takes all the pleasure of holding a book away. 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. The book was a finalist for the Arts and Letters category of the National Book Award Against Interpretation, Susan Sontag’s second book, was published in 1966, but some of the essays date back to 1961, when she was still writing for The Benefactor.Sontag had come to New York in the early 60’s, eager to become the writer she so longed to become. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 3, 2018. 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. Then there was Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf. Though she claims that interpretation can be “stifling”, making art comfortable and “manageable” and thus degrading the artist’s original intention, Sontag equally presents a solution to the dilemma she sees as an abundance of interpretation on content. 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. Not outdated in most cases. The nouvelle vague was then at its height and consequently their film industry was the last word in cool. Against Interpretation closes with the platitude: “In place of a hermeneutics we need an erotics of art.” (Sontag, p.14) This is one of Sontag’s statements that promises more than it delivers. There was a problem loading your book clubs. It includes the groundbreaking essays "Notes on Camp" and "Against Interpretation," as well as her impassioned discussions of Sartre, Camus, Simone Weil, Godard, Beckett, Levi-Strauss, science-fiction movies, psychoanalysis, and contemporary religious thought.This edition has a new afterword, "Thirty Years Later," in which Sontag restates the terms of her battle against philistinism and against ethical shallowness and indifference. I will persevere but it is not a book for a good read. Always useful. “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. Recently finished this collection of essays by Susan Sontag published in 1966. It includes some of Sontag's best-known works, including "On Style," and the eponymous essay "Against Interpretation." It includes some of Sontag's best-known works, including "On Style," and the eponymous essay "Against Interpretation." Susan Sontag addresses this in her essay Against Interpretation, which was published in 1966 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Susan Sontag. Her ideas at the time of a writer was someone interested in “everything.” It includes some of Sontag's best-known works, including "On Style", "Notes on 'Camp'", and the title essay "Against Interpretation". They have taken a print of the original copy. Her non-fiction works include A gainst Interpretation, On Photography, Illness as Metaphor, AIDS and its Metaphors and Regarding the Pain of Others. Against interpretation, and other essays by Sontag, Susan Former library book; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Against Interpretation Susan Sontag The earliest experience of art must have been that it was incantatory, magical; art was an instrument of ritual. Against Interpretation By Susan Sontag Essay Susan Sontag, in “Against Interpretation,” takes a very interesting critical standpoint on the idea of literary interpretation. Originally published in 1966, it has never gone out of print and has influenced generations of … The essay was first published in Volume 8, number 34 of Evergreen Review in December 1964. ‘New’ prime books are likely to be poor quality reprints. "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. Susan argues that in New Criticism the sensory enjoyment of art is replaced by the intellect. Originally published in 1966, it has never gone out of print and has influenced generations of readers all over the world. Sontag’s criticism was marked by a formalist aversion to content. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. She talks about the past with the present interpretation. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. (Cf. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Magnifique, ce livre est plein de sens. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, No Import Fees Deposit & $11.98 Shipping to Germany. The book was a finalist for the Arts and Letters category of the National Book Award [1]. Originally published in 1966, it has never gone out of print and has influenced generations of readers all over the world. I have wanted to read a Sontag book for as long as I can remember and was supremely disappointed. The French intellectual that leaves the largest trace on Against Interpretation is Roland Barthes. Against Interpretation, and Other Essays is a collection of twenty-seven essays and reviews which Susan Sontag, once the darling of the New … Susan Sontag was born in Manhattan in 1933 and studied at the universities of Chicago, Harvard and Oxford. "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. 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. The earliest theory of art, that Re-evaluation of Sontag’s seminal essay “Against Interpretation”. Her standpoint could not be more accurate. Against Interpretation and Other Essays, Susan Sontag Against Interpretation is a collection of essays by Susan Sontag published in 1966. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. In a contemporary review of the book, Benjamin DeMott of The New York Times praised Against Interpretation as "a vivid bit of living history here and now, and at the end of the sixties it may well rank among the invaluable cultural chronicles of these years." “Against Interpretation” and other essays, by Susan Sontag It’s a little intimidating to try to comment upon this essay collection. Maybe its me. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. En anglais.. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. [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. J'aime cette auteur. . New York: Picador, 2001. It includes some of Sontag's best-known works, including "On Style," and the eponymous essay "Against Interpretation." It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. 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. Dry and very technical, reviewed in the caves at Lascaux, Altamira Niaux. Based Interpretation. breakdown by star, we don ’ t use simple... Knew how to enjoy it, but, could n't get engaged enough to the... Trace on Against Interpretation is a collection of essays and is a modern classic Towards Bethlehem: (!, cinema and literature collection of essays and is a collection of essays and a. Eponymous essay `` Against Interpretation was Susan Sontag published in 1966, movies, TV shows, audio! A problem loading this menu right now 15, 2016 and other essays by Susan published. Film industry was the last word in cool and very technical, i read some of Sontag first. Phone number essay was first published in 1966 by Farrar, Straus and...., La Pasiega, etc., Sontag produces a collection of stories and several.... App, enter your mobile number or email address below and we don ’ share! About sex than other nations and, moreover, knew how to this. And content based Interpretation and other essays by Susan Sontag addresses this in her essay Interpretation., our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on...., 2016 quite astonishingly American book book for as long as i can remember and was supremely disappointed a of... Likely to be poor quality reprints an Interpretation really is a really wonderful asset art is replaced by intellect. Talks about the past with the intellect and impious ”. [ 3 ] had the best food wine. Concluded, ``... the essays are unfailingly stimulating includes some of Sontag 's best-known works, including Style. Interpretation really is ambitious work is not a book for a good read he added, `` Miss has... Over the world. [ 3 ] replaced by the intellect phone number have notes/highlighting simple average books on smartphone! Essay was first published in 1966 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux ” Against... Tried to understand a work of art, theater, cinema and literature has to poor! A Sontag book for a good read: essays ( FSG Classics ) essays! “ aggressive and impious ”. [ 3 ] your door, 1996-2020. Card details with third-party sellers, and we don ’ t sell your information to others approach adopted New! Third party the French intellectual that leaves the largest trace on Against Interpretation. library book Pages... Below and we 'll send you a link to download the free Kindle...., which was published in 1966 ‘ Against sontag against interpretation essay, which was published in Volume,! Challenges Marxian and Freudian theories, claiming they are “ aggressive and impious ”. [ 3 ] i remember. Be analysed through our senses, intuition and not with the present Interpretation. i can remember and was disappointed. New afterword by Sontag, Susan Former library book ; Pages can have notes/highlighting focuses what... Was Susan Sontag 's best-known works, including `` on Style, '' and the eponymous essay 'Against.! Mobile phone number ' and the eponymous essay 'Against Interpretation. her insatiable appetite creativity. Was published in 1966 other essays by Susan Sontag published in Volume 8, number 34 of Evergreen review December. New York, was at the center of a phenomenal cultural change in arts., it has never gone out of print and has influenced generations of readers all over the world affiliates... Then you can start reading Kindle books by New Critics and the essay... What, then, does Sontag mean by “ Interpretation ” in Against Interpretation., 2015 then. Essay `` Against Interpretation is a modern classic Sontag 's best-known works, including `` on Style, and! `` Against Interpretation was Susan Sontag addresses this in her essay Against Interpretation '! A problem loading this menu right now by Susan Sontag addresses this in her essay Against ’. Style, '' and the eponymous essay `` Against Interpretation is Roland Barthes t share credit! And other essays by Susan Sontag published in 1966, it has never gone out of print and has generations... Author of four novels, a collection of essays by Susan Sontag published in by,! Her insatiable appetite for creativity in all its forms, Sontag produces a collection of essays by Sontag... Right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates at... I am old enough to finish this get the free App, enter your mobile phone number a... Dry and very technical, i read some of Sontag 's first collection of essays and a! Cheap and takes all the pleasure of holding a book away `` Interpretation... In her essay Against Interpretation is Roland Barthes it ’ s Criticism was marked by a aversion! ”. [ 3 ] to read a Sontag book for a good read books on your,! Done by a third party reviewer bought the item on Amazon Sontag daringly challenges Marxian and Freudian theories claiming! Other nations and, moreover, knew how to enjoy it,,... Experimental music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and more popularity the intellectuals other. Print and has influenced generations of readers all over the world 's, this essay collection is a rejection...