Reading Susan Sontag ― A Critical Introduction to Her Work

This volume surveys the range of Sontag's work. For each piece, Rollyson (English, Baruch College, NY) provides a synopsis, a short section on "Sontag reading Sontag," and a critical analysis of the material. The author also provides a 40-page biographical introduction to Sontag and her works, with brief discussions of her excursions into film and theatre. Some of the pieces discussed in this text include The Benefactor; Styles of Radical Will; On Photography; I, etcetera; and two pieces on AIDS, The Way We Live Now, and AIDS and its Metaphors. The glossary introduces readers to the terms and figures of speech common to Sontag's writing that may not prove common to the general reader's understanding. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Carl Rollyson is author (with Lisa Paddock) of Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon, and of biographies of Rebecca West, Norman Mailer, Martha Gellhorn, Lillian Hellman, and Marilyn Monroe. He is professor of English at Baruch College, City University of New York.