Illness as metaphor and aids and its metaphors susan sontag. Illness as more than metaphor by david rieff my mother, susan sontag, lived almost her entire 71 years believing that she was a person who would beat. Her nonfiction works include against interpretation, on photography, illness as metaphor, aids and its metaphors and regarding the pain of others. Susan sontag was born in manhattan in 1933 and studied at the universities of chicago, harvard and oxford.
January 16, 1933 december 28, 2004 was an american writer, filmmaker, philosopher, teacher, and political activist. In spite of her fame, susan sontag revealed little of herself to the public. People with cancer, for instance, are often blamed for causing the disease. Although we all prefer to use the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to. Then, in the name of the disease that is, using it as a metaphor, that horror is imposed on other things. Yet it is hardly possible to take up ones residence in the kingdom of the ill. Very sick the presence of competence while mind would indeed. Susan sontags book, illness as metaphor, has framed our understanding of the relationship between disease metaphors and illness experiences in modern western society. Her point is that ill ness is not a metaphor, and that the most truthful way of regarding illnessand the healthiest way of being illis to resist. My point is that illness is not a metaphor, and that the most truthful way of regarding illnessand the healthiest way of being illis one most purified of, most resistant to, metaphoric thinking. The earliest theory of art, that of the greek philosophers, proposed that art was mimesis, imitation of reality. Illness as metaphor served as a way for susan sontag to express her opinions on the use of metaphors in order to refer to illnesses, with her main focuses being tuberculosis and cancer. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels. Her bestknown works include on photography, against interpretation, styles of radical will, the way we live now.
Illness as metaphor and aids and its metaphors by susan. She attended the university of california at berkeley for one year and then transferred to the university of. Sontag stimulates a careful reevaluation of the place of metaphor in our thinking about illness. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Sontag was a tall, handsome, fluent and articulate woman. Illness as metaphor and aids and its metaphors susan. Cancer is generally thought an inappropriate disease for a romantic character, in contrast to tuberculosis, perhaps because unromantic depression has supplanted the romantic notion of melancholy.
Her view that metaphors can render diseases socially as well as physically mortifying has influenced a generation of scholars. Every page of on photography raises important and exciting questions about its subject and raises them in the best way. In l978 susan sontag wrote illness as metaphor, a classic work described by newsweek as one of the most liberating books of its time. Illness is the night side of life, a more onerous citizenship. She wrote her groundbreaking work illness as metaphor 1989 without mentioning that her father had died of tuberculosis and that she herself was suffering from cancer, the two diseases discussed at length in the book. She is also the author of four novels, a collection of stories and several plays. Illness as metaphor, a groundbreaking book, grew out of susan sontags own struggle with disease. She touches upon, but doesnt do much with, metaphor intrinsic to medicine. Illness as metaphor and aids and its metaphors free pdf. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and was given only a slim chance of surviving. It is largely as a result of her work that the howto health books avoid the blameridden term cancer personality and speak more soothingly of diseaseproducing lifestyles. In 1977 susan sontag 1990 wrote a searing indictment of the prevailing cultural view of cancer as a death sentence. Illness as more than metaphor new york times msuepi.
She went on to write four novels, including in america 2000, which won the national book award for fiction, as well as a collection of stories, several plays, and seven subsequent works of nonfiction, among them on photography 1977. In 1978 susan sontag wrote illness as metaphor, a classic work described by newsweek as one of the most liberating books of its time. A cancer patient herself at the time, she shows how the metaphors and myths surrounding certain illnesses, especially cancer, add greatly to the suffering of the patients and often inhibit them from seeking proper treatment. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of illness as metaphor by susan sontag. Illness as metaphor examines in more general than personal terms how society regards illness and being ill, in particular the punitive. Her subject is the unreal and often punitive uses of illness as a figure or meta phor in our culture. She believed that references to her own experience actually undermined her authority. A cancer patient herself when she was writing the book, sontag shows how the metaphors and myths surrounding certain illnesses, especially cancer, add greatly to the suffering of the patients and often inhibit them from seeking proper treatment. Read download illness as metaphor and aids and its.
A cancer patient herself at the time, she shows how the metaphors and myths surrounding certain illnesses, especially cancer, add greatly to the suffering of the patients and often. The book contrasts the view points and metaphors associated with each disease. Her book is not about illness, but about the use of illness as a figure or metaphor. Two diseases have been spectacularly, and simi larly, encumbered by the trappings of metaphor. Antidemocrats used it to evoke the desecrations of an egalitarian age. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the. Regarding the pain of others susan sontag macmillan. In illness and metaphor, susan sontag explores the language of disease, and specifically, the connotations it carries. Since the publication of susan sontags highly influential illness as metaphor in 1978, many studies have provided followup analyses on her critique of metaphors for cancer, but none have. Syphilis was thought to be not only a horrible dis ease but a demeaning, vulgar one.
My mother, susan sontag, lived almost her entire 71 years believing that she was a person who would beat the odds. Her first essay collection, against interpretation 1966, which famously argues for an erotics. After the us writer susan sontag underwent chemotherapy for breast cancer, however, she took a different approach. A susan sontag reader, vintage 31 copy quote 10 percent of any population is cruel, no matter what, and 10 percent is merciful, no matter what, and the remaining 80 percent can. She is particularly concerned with the metaphorical sue of tuberculosis in the 19th century and cancer in the 20th. Click on a datetime to view the file as it appeared at that time. Pdf on sep 8, 2007, james curran and others published illness as metaphor. Illness as metaphor download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. Susan sontag was born in new york city on january 16, 1933. The ordeal also yielded an eightysevenpage book, illness as metaphor 1978, in which sontag counters evasive language about illness and the punitive or sentimental fantasies about cancer and tuberculosis, theories that diseases are caused by mental states and can be cured by willpower. Pdf susan soniags studies on illness and metaphor raise a host of questions, based on. Illness as metaphor is a 1978 work of critical theory by susan sontag, in which she challenges the victimblaming in the language often used to describe. A cancer patient herself when she was writing the book, sontag shows how the metaphors and myths surrounding certain illnesses, especially cancer, add greatly to the suffering of patients and often inhibit them from seeking proper treatment. Disease as political metaphor by susan sontag the new.
Susan sontag, american intellectual and writer best known for her essays on modern culture. Since the publication of susan sontag s highly influential illness as metaphor in 1978, many studies have provided followup analyses on her critique of metaphors for cancer, but none have investigated her claims about the uses and implications of cancer as a metaphor e. Susan sontag 19332004 was the author of four novels, the benefactor, death kit, the volcano lover, and in america, which won the 2000 national book award for fiction. Although in interviews susan sontag spoke openly about her cancer diagnosis, including the dire prediction that she had only a 10 percent chance of surviving much beyond the course of her treatment,illness as metaphornever mentions her own case. Illness is the nightside of life, a more onerous citizenship. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.
Susan sontag, the dark lady of american intellectual life for over four decades, has died of cancer. Susan sontag immediately became a major figure of our culture with the publication in 1966 of the pathbreaking collection of essays against interpretation. Against interpretation susan sontag the earliest experience of art must have been that it was incantatory, magical. Susan sontags illness as metaphor was the first to point out the accusatory side of the metaphors of empowerment that seek to enlist the patients will to resist disease. Aids and its metaphors find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate.