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At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches
"A writer is someone who pays attention to the world," Susan Sontag said in her 2003 acceptance speech for the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, and no one exemplified this definition more than she. Sontag's incisive intelligence, expressive brilliance, and deep curiosity about art, politics, and the writer's responsibility to bear witness have secured her place as one of the most important thinkers and writers of the twentieth century. At the Same Time gathers sixteen essays and addresses written in the last years of Sontag's life, when her work was being honored on the international stage, that reflect on the personally liberating nature of literature, her deepest commitment, and on political activism and resistance to injustice as an ethical duty. She considers the works of writers from the little-known Soviet novelist Leonid Tsypkin, who struggled and eventually succeeded in publishing his only book days before his death; to the greats, such as Nadine Gordimer, who enlarge our capacity for moral judgment. Sontag also fearlessly addresses the dilemmas of post-9/11 America, from the degradation of our political rhetoric to the appalling torture of prisoners in Abu Ghraib.
At the Same Time, which includes a foreword by her son, David Rieff, is a passionate, compelling work from an American writer at the height of her powers, who always saw literature "as a passport to enter a larger life, the zone of freedom."
At the Same Time, which includes a foreword by her son, David Rieff, is a passionate, compelling work from an American writer at the height of her powers, who always saw literature "as a passport to enter a larger life, the zone of freedom."
235 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Susan Sontag
193 books4,427 followersSusan Sontag was born in New York City on January 16, 1933, grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and attended high school in Los Angeles. She received her B.A. from the College of the University of Chicago and did graduate work in philosophy, literature, and theology at Harvard University and Saint Anne’s College, Oxford.
Her books include four novels, The Benefactor, Death Kit, The Volcano Lover, and In America; a collection of short stories, I, etcetera; several plays, including Alice in Bed and Lady from the Sea; and nine works of nonfiction, starting with Against Interpretation and including On Photography, Illness as Metaphor, Where the Stress Falls, Regarding the Pain of Others, and At the Same Time. In 1982, Farrar, Straus & Giroux published A Susan Sontag Reader.
Ms. Sontag wrote and directed four feature-length films: Duet for Cannibals (1969) and Brother Carl (1971), both in Sweden; Promised Lands (1974), made in Israel during the war of October 1973; and Unguided Tour (1983), from her short story of the same name, made in Italy. Her play Alice in Bed has had productions in the United States, Mexico, Germany, and Holland. Another play, Lady from the Sea, has been produced in Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Korea.
Ms. Sontag also directed plays in the United States and Europe, including a staging of Beckett's Waiting for Godot in the summer of 1993 in besieged Sarajevo, where she spent much of the time between early 1993 and 1996 and was made an honorary citizen of the city.
A human rights activist for more than two decades, Ms. Sontag served from 1987 to 1989 as president of the American Center of PEN, the international writers’ organization dedicated to freedom of expression and the advancement of literature, from which platform she led a number of campaigns on behalf of persecuted and imprisoned writers.
Her stories and essays appeared in newspapers, magazines, and literary publications all over the world, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, Art in America, Antaeus, Parnassus, The Threepenny Review, The Nation, and Granta. Her books have been translated into thirty-two languages.
Among Ms. Sontag's many honors are the 2003 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the 2003 Prince of Asturias Prize, the 2001 Jerusalem Prize, the National Book Award for In America (2000), and the National Book Critics Circle Award for On Photography (1978). In 1992 she received the Malaparte Prize in Italy, and in 1999 she was named a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government (she had been named an Officier in the same order in 1984). Between 1990 and 1995 she was a MacArthur Fellow.
Ms. Sontag died in New York City on December 28, 2004.
Her books include four novels, The Benefactor, Death Kit, The Volcano Lover, and In America; a collection of short stories, I, etcetera; several plays, including Alice in Bed and Lady from the Sea; and nine works of nonfiction, starting with Against Interpretation and including On Photography, Illness as Metaphor, Where the Stress Falls, Regarding the Pain of Others, and At the Same Time. In 1982, Farrar, Straus & Giroux published A Susan Sontag Reader.
Ms. Sontag wrote and directed four feature-length films: Duet for Cannibals (1969) and Brother Carl (1971), both in Sweden; Promised Lands (1974), made in Israel during the war of October 1973; and Unguided Tour (1983), from her short story of the same name, made in Italy. Her play Alice in Bed has had productions in the United States, Mexico, Germany, and Holland. Another play, Lady from the Sea, has been produced in Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Korea.
Ms. Sontag also directed plays in the United States and Europe, including a staging of Beckett's Waiting for Godot in the summer of 1993 in besieged Sarajevo, where she spent much of the time between early 1993 and 1996 and was made an honorary citizen of the city.
A human rights activist for more than two decades, Ms. Sontag served from 1987 to 1989 as president of the American Center of PEN, the international writers’ organization dedicated to freedom of expression and the advancement of literature, from which platform she led a number of campaigns on behalf of persecuted and imprisoned writers.
Her stories and essays appeared in newspapers, magazines, and literary publications all over the world, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, Art in America, Antaeus, Parnassus, The Threepenny Review, The Nation, and Granta. Her books have been translated into thirty-two languages.
Among Ms. Sontag's many honors are the 2003 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the 2003 Prince of Asturias Prize, the 2001 Jerusalem Prize, the National Book Award for In America (2000), and the National Book Critics Circle Award for On Photography (1978). In 1992 she received the Malaparte Prize in Italy, and in 1999 she was named a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government (she had been named an Officier in the same order in 1984). Between 1990 and 1995 she was a MacArthur Fellow.
Ms. Sontag died in New York City on December 28, 2004.
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October 2, 2019Unless you're a Sontag completist, as I am, you can basically skip this slender collection of essays. They're B-sides, and have nothing on her greatest hits from the '60s, '70s, and beyond. The reflections on 9/11 are superficial, her awards speeches about the nobility of literature struck me as both fluffy and precious, which, given the fangs that Sontag deployed back in the day, makes them truly awful. Susan, I love you, but bro, you're posting cringe.
January 8, 2017
“A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world." image: [image error]
Como mi segundo libro en este reto literario del 2017, que tiene como finalidad conocer a escritoras alrededor del mundo, opte por Susan Sontag de Estados Unidos. Novelista, fotógrafa, directora de cine, activista de varios movimientos políticos y sociales, así también como defensora de los derechos humanos y la libertad de expresión, Sontag fue nacida en Nueva York en 1933 y fue egresada de universidades como Oxford y Sorbonne con estudios en filosofía, literatura y teología.
“At the same time”, o “Al mismo tiempo” (si lo traducimos literalmente al español), es una colección de ensayos y discursos que abarca varios temas políticos, culturales y sociales. En lo personal, disfruto leer sobre la vida de los grandes personajes de literatura, arte o política y dentro de sus ensayos, Sontag nos ofrece una ventana que nos permite ver un poco la vida de algunos autores. En particular disfrute mucho la correspondencia y complicidad de palabras que existia entre los poetas Boris Pasternak, Rilke y Marina Tsvetayevna asi como tambien el recorrido que llevo a cabo el escritor ruso Leonid Tsypskin para poder completar “Summer in Baden”, libro basado en varias ubicaciones descritas en las novelas de Dostoevsky. Dentro de los discursos ofrecidos en algunos eventos donde recibió algún tipo de premiación por su trabajo, Sontag aborda algunos temas políticos referentes al 11 de Septiembre y lo que representa la libertad en la literatura.
En lo personal, no me gusta leer libros que están de moda y prefiero buscar aquellos libros que puedan expandir mi perspectiva o mi criterio y en Sontag encontré una voz poderosa y con carácter. Una mujer de espíritu rebelde, aquel que no tiene miedo de dar su opinión y darla de una forma clara, abstracta e imposible de pasar desapercibida. Es un placer encontrar escritoras que tan admirablemente luchan por la libertad de expresión y se involucran en causas humanistas como en temas de enfermedad (HIV) y derechos de las mujeres. Como defensora de la libertad de expresion, tambien movilizo gente en defensa de su amigo Salman Rushdie durante un momento de amenazas por la publicacion de su libro "Los Versos Satanicos". Además, Sontag encontró en la fotografía una de las mejores maneras de proyectar la realidad de nuestro presente y el sufrimiento que existe en varias caras de la humanidad.
Una intelectual muy recomendable para todos aquellos que nos gustan las mujeres que luchan por alguna causa social y sobretodo, conocer o no dejar pasar al olvido aquellas mujeres que han luchado por ese territorio que poco a poco vamos conquistando en nuestra sociedad.
Le doy 4/5 estrellas porque simplemente creo que algunos ensayos (que al parecer no estaban terminados), los senti unos mas fuertes que otros, pero sin duda alguna, me quedo con un enorme deseo de aprender mas de ella.
Nuestro gato Jerry haciendome compania en momentos de lectura.
M.
Jan. 2017
Como mi segundo libro en este reto literario del 2017, que tiene como finalidad conocer a escritoras alrededor del mundo, opte por Susan Sontag de Estados Unidos. Novelista, fotógrafa, directora de cine, activista de varios movimientos políticos y sociales, así también como defensora de los derechos humanos y la libertad de expresión, Sontag fue nacida en Nueva York en 1933 y fue egresada de universidades como Oxford y Sorbonne con estudios en filosofía, literatura y teología.
“At the same time”, o “Al mismo tiempo” (si lo traducimos literalmente al español), es una colección de ensayos y discursos que abarca varios temas políticos, culturales y sociales. En lo personal, disfruto leer sobre la vida de los grandes personajes de literatura, arte o política y dentro de sus ensayos, Sontag nos ofrece una ventana que nos permite ver un poco la vida de algunos autores. En particular disfrute mucho la correspondencia y complicidad de palabras que existia entre los poetas Boris Pasternak, Rilke y Marina Tsvetayevna asi como tambien el recorrido que llevo a cabo el escritor ruso Leonid Tsypskin para poder completar “Summer in Baden”, libro basado en varias ubicaciones descritas en las novelas de Dostoevsky. Dentro de los discursos ofrecidos en algunos eventos donde recibió algún tipo de premiación por su trabajo, Sontag aborda algunos temas políticos referentes al 11 de Septiembre y lo que representa la libertad en la literatura.
En lo personal, no me gusta leer libros que están de moda y prefiero buscar aquellos libros que puedan expandir mi perspectiva o mi criterio y en Sontag encontré una voz poderosa y con carácter. Una mujer de espíritu rebelde, aquel que no tiene miedo de dar su opinión y darla de una forma clara, abstracta e imposible de pasar desapercibida. Es un placer encontrar escritoras que tan admirablemente luchan por la libertad de expresión y se involucran en causas humanistas como en temas de enfermedad (HIV) y derechos de las mujeres. Como defensora de la libertad de expresion, tambien movilizo gente en defensa de su amigo Salman Rushdie durante un momento de amenazas por la publicacion de su libro "Los Versos Satanicos". Además, Sontag encontró en la fotografía una de las mejores maneras de proyectar la realidad de nuestro presente y el sufrimiento que existe en varias caras de la humanidad.
Una intelectual muy recomendable para todos aquellos que nos gustan las mujeres que luchan por alguna causa social y sobretodo, conocer o no dejar pasar al olvido aquellas mujeres que han luchado por ese territorio que poco a poco vamos conquistando en nuestra sociedad.
Le doy 4/5 estrellas porque simplemente creo que algunos ensayos (que al parecer no estaban terminados), los senti unos mas fuertes que otros, pero sin duda alguna, me quedo con un enorme deseo de aprender mas de ella.
Nuestro gato Jerry haciendome compania en momentos de lectura.
M.
Jan. 2017
February 24, 2019
Quando a Susan Sontag escreve sobre literatura não dá qualquer margem para o alheamento. Tudo nela e na sua abordagem é investimento pleno e dedicação inata ao que toma tanto como missão como prazer.
Ler literatura é estar só comungando do âmago de outrem. É conhecer o mundo adensando a todo o momento os motivos do merecimento de um certificado de ignorância. Ler sobre a literatura segundo a perspectiva de Sontag é sentir uma companhia flagrante nessa tal tarefa solitária.
Ler literatura é estar só comungando do âmago de outrem. É conhecer o mundo adensando a todo o momento os motivos do merecimento de um certificado de ignorância. Ler sobre a literatura segundo a perspectiva de Sontag é sentir uma companhia flagrante nessa tal tarefa solitária.
March 27, 2020
«مشکل دیگری که عقاید ایجاد میکنند این است که به مثابه کارگزار خود-غیرپویاساز عمل میکنند. عمل نویسندگان باید رهایمان سازد، به جنبشمان درآوردو گذرگاههای شفقت و علایق جدید را به روی ما باز کند. به یادمان آورد شاید، فقط شاید، مشتاق آن باشیم که متفاوت و بهتر از آنچه هستیم باشیم. به یادمان آورد که میتوانیم تغییر کنیم.
همانگونه که کاردینال نیومن میگوید :« در دنیایی متعالیتر و برتر شرایط جور دیگر است، اما اینجا در پاییندست، زندگی تغییر کردن است و کامل و بینقض بودن به این معنی است که تغییرهای بسیاری از سر گذراندهای.»
درعین حال مجموعهای از سخنرانیها و یک مصاحبهی سوزان سانتاگه که در اون از عمده دغدغههای خودش یعنی ادبیات، رنجهایی که به واسطه خط مشی امپریالیستی سیاست خارجه ایالت متحده به کشورهای خاورمیانه وارد میشه و اخلاقیات حرف میزنه. از ساختارهای ادبی و وظیفهی یک رماننویس که « همزمانی آنچه را که در جهان جریان دارد» به یاد داره تا با کوچک کردن جهان برای ما، جهان ما رو گستردهتر کنه؛ تا یادآور شه که چند اکنون درحال رخ دادنه، که « اکنون هم به اینجا اشاره دارد هم به آنجا؟» همونطور که ولتر بعد از شنیدن اخبار زلزله عظیم لیسبون مینویسه «لیسبون ویران شده است و ما اینجا در پاریس میرقصیم.»
همینطور در سه بخش به ماجرای 11 سپتامبر آمریکا و جنگ بیپایانی که بعد از اون علیه "تروریسم" شروع شد میگه. دو بخش دیگه از اینکه آمریکا معاهدات جهانی ضد شکنجه تحت هر شرایط اضطراری رو زیرپا میذاره و بطور گسترده در عراق دست به یک نوع "شوکدرمانی" میزنه میگه. - احتمالا این نوشتههای سیاسی آخرین نوشتههای سوزان سانتاگ هستن.
همانگونه که کاردینال نیومن میگوید :« در دنیایی متعالیتر و برتر شرایط جور دیگر است، اما اینجا در پاییندست، زندگی تغییر کردن است و کامل و بینقض بودن به این معنی است که تغییرهای بسیاری از سر گذراندهای.»
درعین حال مجموعهای از سخنرانیها و یک مصاحبهی سوزان سانتاگه که در اون از عمده دغدغههای خودش یعنی ادبیات، رنجهایی که به واسطه خط مشی امپریالیستی سیاست خارجه ایالت متحده به کشورهای خاورمیانه وارد میشه و اخلاقیات حرف میزنه. از ساختارهای ادبی و وظیفهی یک رماننویس که « همزمانی آنچه را که در جهان جریان دارد» به یاد داره تا با کوچک کردن جهان برای ما، جهان ما رو گستردهتر کنه؛ تا یادآور شه که چند اکنون درحال رخ دادنه، که « اکنون هم به اینجا اشاره دارد هم به آنجا؟» همونطور که ولتر بعد از شنیدن اخبار زلزله عظیم لیسبون مینویسه «لیسبون ویران شده است و ما اینجا در پاریس میرقصیم.»
همینطور در سه بخش به ماجرای 11 سپتامبر آمریکا و جنگ بیپایانی که بعد از اون علیه "تروریسم" شروع شد میگه. دو بخش دیگه از اینکه آمریکا معاهدات جهانی ضد شکنجه تحت هر شرایط اضطراری رو زیرپا میذاره و بطور گسترده در عراق دست به یک نوع "شوکدرمانی" میزنه میگه. - احتمالا این نوشتههای سیاسی آخرین نوشتههای سوزان سانتاگ هستن.
April 22, 2013
Her use of language was masterful - the kind that just makes on want to recite it out loud to hear the words roll off ones tongue. The works in this collection were Sontag at her best - impeccably thought out and admirably executed!
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April 3, 2016I began with her last. As a whole, as a book, I'm not really sure how successful it is. I suppose the thing it lacks is cohesion - though this is to be somewhat expected in a book composed of a number of essays and speeches on a number of diverging topics. Though the issues explored remain as relevant as always, in the 10 years+ that have passed since being written, her approach at times teeters on becoming dated. Yet again, this is probably not a fair criticism, since death has denied Sontag the right to bear witness to just how much has changed in the past decade and so to continue to evolve in her judgements (as I'm sure she would have). Overall though I still consider the book a triumph in showcasing how fervently against a singularity of interests Sontag was...to me I love her and her book because it shows just how much in love she was with learning - about anything and everything - right to the end.
May 13, 2008
I really enjoyed this book.
I think the best part is the first section. I particularly liked the essays about Victor Serge and Anna Banti.
The section on 9/11 and its aftermath was also powerful.
I found the speeches uneven but definitely worthwhile.
If truth is light I think this book should glow in the dark.
I think the best part is the first section. I particularly liked the essays about Victor Serge and Anna Banti.
The section on 9/11 and its aftermath was also powerful.
I found the speeches uneven but definitely worthwhile.
If truth is light I think this book should glow in the dark.
March 29, 2019
It has been a long time since I've read such a well written book. If you really love reading and you care a lot about form, structure and the use of argumentation in essays this is definitely a must read. It has pushed my thoughts beyond my current comfortable state of mind.
February 23, 2018
A brilliant 4.5 stars!
I don't really remember how I heard about Susan Sontag except it was in one of my bookish whatsapp groups (umm yeah, they exist, I am a part of two). And I tucked it away in the back of my mind. On my visit to the library a couple of months back, I stumbled upon 'In America' by her but the title didn't interest me much. What did I have to do with America anyhow? And I put it back on the shelf.
And then I came across this book by Sontag on my recent library visit. I contemplated keeping it back. I wasn't sure if I was in the mood for essays (I usually never am. Those were things written and memorized in school and never read again.) but I decided to bring it home. It sat beside my bed while I read fictional works I had issued. And finally I decided to atleast get a flavor of what it was about. The introduction by Sontag's son, Davie Rieff piqued my curiosity. And thereafter I didn't look back, turning page upon page until I devoured it, albeit a bit slow in the beginning and faster at the end.
It was a brilliant read. I think I am in love with Sontag. And I deeply mourn her loss. I wish she was alive now. I am sure she would have so much to say about Trump's win and the state of America now. She seems very vocal and unfazed by critics and people in the power. I admire her tenacity and bravado. We need more people like her.
My favorite essay in this book was on Pasternak, Tsvetayeva and Rilke. How she talks about their personal and professional lives giving us a peek into their private lives. Mesmerizing!
I deeply appreciate her insights into books, the lives of authors, political situations and almost everything under the sun. She's well read, thorough in her research, and her writing just pulls you in and keeps you focused. I could feel the time she has taken in penning down each and every word. I totally am with her when she says not many writers today are knowledgeable. They don't know about the world they reside in. I agree when she says it's important as a writer to know what's happening around.
Ah. The feeling. The aftertaste this book leaves in your mouth. You feel like just sitting for a while, letting it all sink in. To not let that get murky by reading another book. *Sigh*
I don't really remember how I heard about Susan Sontag except it was in one of my bookish whatsapp groups (umm yeah, they exist, I am a part of two). And I tucked it away in the back of my mind. On my visit to the library a couple of months back, I stumbled upon 'In America' by her but the title didn't interest me much. What did I have to do with America anyhow? And I put it back on the shelf.
And then I came across this book by Sontag on my recent library visit. I contemplated keeping it back. I wasn't sure if I was in the mood for essays (I usually never am. Those were things written and memorized in school and never read again.) but I decided to bring it home. It sat beside my bed while I read fictional works I had issued. And finally I decided to atleast get a flavor of what it was about. The introduction by Sontag's son, Davie Rieff piqued my curiosity. And thereafter I didn't look back, turning page upon page until I devoured it, albeit a bit slow in the beginning and faster at the end.
It was a brilliant read. I think I am in love with Sontag. And I deeply mourn her loss. I wish she was alive now. I am sure she would have so much to say about Trump's win and the state of America now. She seems very vocal and unfazed by critics and people in the power. I admire her tenacity and bravado. We need more people like her.
My favorite essay in this book was on Pasternak, Tsvetayeva and Rilke. How she talks about their personal and professional lives giving us a peek into their private lives. Mesmerizing!
I deeply appreciate her insights into books, the lives of authors, political situations and almost everything under the sun. She's well read, thorough in her research, and her writing just pulls you in and keeps you focused. I could feel the time she has taken in penning down each and every word. I totally am with her when she says not many writers today are knowledgeable. They don't know about the world they reside in. I agree when she says it's important as a writer to know what's happening around.
Ah. The feeling. The aftertaste this book leaves in your mouth. You feel like just sitting for a while, letting it all sink in. To not let that get murky by reading another book. *Sigh*
September 14, 2009
"Time exists in order that it doesn't happen all at once...space exists so that it doesn't all happen to you" (226). The essay "At the Same Time" has been an aid in understanding my ability/inability to process the latest horrors in the holy land. Arguing for literature's value, Sontag writes, "Hearing the shattering news of the great earthquake that leveled Lisbon [in 1755], and (if historians are to be believed) took with it a whole society's optimism (but obviously I don't believe that any society has only one basic attitude), the great Voltaire was struck by the inability to take in what happened elsewhere. 'Lisbon lies in ruins,' Voltaire wrote, 'and here in Paris we dance.' ... I venture to assert we are just as capable of being surprised--and frustrated by the inadequacy of our response--by the simultaneity of wildly contrasting human fates as was Voltaire two and a half centuries ago. Perhaps it is our perennial fate to be surprised by the simultaneity of events--by the sheer extension of the world in time and space. That here we are here, now prosperous, safe, unlikely to go to bed hungry or be blown to pieces this evening...while elsewhere in the world, right now..." (227-8)
June 2, 2023
خانم سانتاگ بشدت قلم قوی دارن، فمینیسم محترم و درک بالا بسیار بالا در حوزه نقد،عکاسی و ادبیات
این کتابشونم عالی بود و سراسر لذت شدم
این کتابشونم عالی بود و سراسر لذت شدم
January 19, 2015
Este libro contiene tanta sabiduría, lucidez, alma... que no creo haber captado absolutamente todo en 1 sola leída. Este es un manual definitivo para ser no solo mejores escritores, sino también para ser un mejor ciudadano, crítico, moral, compasivo. Solo me queda decir, ¡qué gran mujer la Sontag, qué gran mente, qué ser humano!
January 8, 2022
Susan Sontag zu lesen geht mit einer Notwendigkeit der Erkenntniserweiterung einher. Erkenntnistheoretische Ansätze werden bezüglich des Politischen und Gesellschaftlichen hinterfragt, im Sinne einer Normierung der Wahrheit.
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November 4, 2019It is exam season again, which means I’m devouring non-fiction and intensely scrubbing every surface I can clean with a toothbrush and bleach. Reading this was a little less satisfying than cleaning my shower meticulously. She’s undeniably brilliant, but I feel like this didn’t shine. But I did really enjoy an argument about beauty and the title essay, and I bought Anna Banti’s Artemisia.
November 21, 2022
«El tiempo existe para que no todo ocurra al mismo tiempo...y el espacio para que no todo te ocurra a ti». Contar una historia es decir: esta historia es importante. A fin de reducir la extensión y simultaneidad de todo a algo lineal, a una senda.
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September 3, 2018I'll always be reading Sontag, her essays are so good. Even when - as is the case with this book, published after her death - she didn't get a chance to vigorously edit them, as she usually did.
December 28, 2023
very relevant, almost painfully at times. but was a little weird to read literary criticism about works and people i haven’t read soooooooooooooo…………….
June 20, 2020
Hay algunos tópicos en los que Susan Sontag evidencia cierta ingenuidad que supongo pretende demarcar cierta distancia con los temas que trata, esto que es producto, especulo yo, de su edad al momento de escribir algunos de estos ensayos o su evidente posición de privilegio social (me refiero sobretodo a los ensayos que tienen que ver con temas como el intervecionismo estadounidense en el medio oriente y por consiguiente en su posición bastante apologista de la política exterior del estado de Israel) quizás le hacen perder algo de poder a este libro, sin embargo todo eso se compensa porque Sontag es muy buena argumentando sus puntos de vista, siempre lo fue.
Para Sontag-ólogos.
Para Sontag-ólogos.
January 15, 2020
I read this book feeling a similar reaction when I read Borges: an intellect and understanding I cannot yet grasp.
All of the writing in this short collection is (of course) intelligent. However, only a few resonated with me; the personal always succeeds. The paragraphs about translation and translating of languages and literature were the sentences that received the most underlines and highlights for me. Mother tongue, memory, and translation have been on my mind for a few years, constantly reappearing in flashes.
Highlights:
* “Each day I sit down to write, I marvel at the richness of the language I am privileged to use. But my pride in English is somewhat at odds with my awareness of another kind of linguistic privilege: to write in a language everyone, in principle is obliged to, desires to, understand.”
* “The ancient biblical image suggests that we live in our differences, emblematically linguistic, on top of one another, like Frank Lloyd Wrights dream of a mile high apartment building. But common sense tells as our linguistic dispersion cannot be a tower. The geography of our dispersal into many languages is much more horizontal than vertical (or so it seems), with rivers, and mountains, and valleys, and oceans that lap around the land mass.“
* “But maybe there is some truth in the image. Maybe certain languages occupy whole sections of the upper floors, the gray rooms and commanding terraces. And other languages and their literary products are confined to lower floors, low ceilings, and blocked views.”
* The Consciousness of Words
* “But a writer ought not to be an opinion machine… a writer is not a jukebox.”
* “Perfection makes me laugh. Not cynically, I hasted to add. With joy.”
* On Courage and Resistance
* “The likelihood that your act of resistance cannot stop the injustice does not exempt you from acting in what you sincerely and reflectively hold to be the best interest of your community.” This GPP 196 encapsulated in one sentence.
* At the Same Time: The Novelist and the Moralist
* “To tell a story is to say this: this is the important story. It is to reduce the spread and simultaneity of everything to something linear, path.”
All of the writing in this short collection is (of course) intelligent. However, only a few resonated with me; the personal always succeeds. The paragraphs about translation and translating of languages and literature were the sentences that received the most underlines and highlights for me. Mother tongue, memory, and translation have been on my mind for a few years, constantly reappearing in flashes.
Highlights:
* “Each day I sit down to write, I marvel at the richness of the language I am privileged to use. But my pride in English is somewhat at odds with my awareness of another kind of linguistic privilege: to write in a language everyone, in principle is obliged to, desires to, understand.”
* “The ancient biblical image suggests that we live in our differences, emblematically linguistic, on top of one another, like Frank Lloyd Wrights dream of a mile high apartment building. But common sense tells as our linguistic dispersion cannot be a tower. The geography of our dispersal into many languages is much more horizontal than vertical (or so it seems), with rivers, and mountains, and valleys, and oceans that lap around the land mass.“
* “But maybe there is some truth in the image. Maybe certain languages occupy whole sections of the upper floors, the gray rooms and commanding terraces. And other languages and their literary products are confined to lower floors, low ceilings, and blocked views.”
* The Consciousness of Words
* “But a writer ought not to be an opinion machine… a writer is not a jukebox.”
* “Perfection makes me laugh. Not cynically, I hasted to add. With joy.”
* On Courage and Resistance
* “The likelihood that your act of resistance cannot stop the injustice does not exempt you from acting in what you sincerely and reflectively hold to be the best interest of your community.” This GPP 196 encapsulated in one sentence.
* At the Same Time: The Novelist and the Moralist
* “To tell a story is to say this: this is the important story. It is to reduce the spread and simultaneity of everything to something linear, path.”
March 13, 2018
this will be my last foray into Sontag's works... as with "Regarding the Pain of Others" this collection, albeit unedited (Sontag died before its publication), still lacks the scholarly/intellectual rigor of a "noted" intellectual/social critic... she seems to choose topics that polish her personal gleam, books/art that are "obscure, but shouldn't be" (because she said so, seemingly)... her "analysis" (more personal commentary, since it lacks depth, methodology or supporting fact/reasoning) of September 11th and her two pieces on its "aftermath" are ill-informed and categorically misleading, if not outright false in their premises/conclusions... her take on terrorist acts, their origins, their purposes, their results, is stupefying and for the most part supports the hegemonic attitudes of the US/Western Civilization, but with enough of a teensytiny twinge of critique to make it seem she isn't pro-US world domination (as long as there is a promise of fewer deaths and less destruction, it seems)... she claims that a two-state solution and pullback to pre-1967 borders by Israel would do NOTHING to stop terrorism in the region... i disagree... i find it absolutely appalling she had the gall to claim terrorists are against, amongst other "modernisms", fun... fun is seemingly the quintessential modern activity (along with colonialism, neverending war, slavery, genocide, etc.)... what the absolutef**k?!?!? her support of "secularism, pluralism, democracy" are vapid, as she does nothing to analyze or explain how these terms came to be, or what they have come to mean, or who decided what they mean, and to whom... so she's smarter than my cat? probably. and intellectual? not even close. just commentary from someone who is not the least impacted by world events (closeted intellectual)... these are nothing but opinion pieces, and like someone once said: "opinions are like assholes, all of us have them, and most of them stink."... sad to me that Sontag is esteemed when she implicitly supports/emboldens the US/Western Civilization hegemony, while spicing her works with crumbs for the oppressed... give me Siri Hustvedt any day...
January 14, 2020
At the Same Time is a collection of Sontag's essays and speeches, published posthumously in 2007, and comprising three categories: 1) essays about obscure literature; 2) essays about 9/11; and 3) speeches Sontag gave on varied themes (literature, courage, etc.).
Given that the major unifying thread for this collection is loose- essay or speech- my opinions on each section varied widely. The beginning section was my least favourite, as Sontag did deep dives into novels, largely Russian, that I had never even heard of, let alone read. While I appreciate her love for these novels, and appreciate knowing that these novels exist, it wasn’t a contagious love.
The best section was the middle section, Sontag’s essays about 9/11 and the war on terror. I was both young and Canadian when the twin towers came down (I remain Canadian, but not as young…), so this is the first time I’ve read Sontag’s essays about these events. I gather they were quite controversial at the time and my read now, much farther removed by time and nationality than Sontag would ever be, is that they are not wrong but in fact appropriately critical. “Regarding the Torture of Others,” discussing the torture (and torture photos) that emerged out of Abu Ghraib, was the standout.
After the bright middle section, the last section was somewhat of a let down. Over the course of her life Sontag was given many honorary awards and asked to speak at a variety of awards ceremonies, and this chapter collects some of these speeches. They focus on topics like “Literature is Freedom” and the meaning of ‘courage’. This reading felt like like I was back in a college literary theory class trying to boil down what a theorist was saying to something more intelligible. I’d often find myself at the end of a page without understanding at all what I’d just read, and having to read it all over again with concentrated focus. For all that, I didn’t find that the ideas she was putting down were such unexpected or insightful gems as to merit so much brainpower after a day of work.
Given that the major unifying thread for this collection is loose- essay or speech- my opinions on each section varied widely. The beginning section was my least favourite, as Sontag did deep dives into novels, largely Russian, that I had never even heard of, let alone read. While I appreciate her love for these novels, and appreciate knowing that these novels exist, it wasn’t a contagious love.
The best section was the middle section, Sontag’s essays about 9/11 and the war on terror. I was both young and Canadian when the twin towers came down (I remain Canadian, but not as young…), so this is the first time I’ve read Sontag’s essays about these events. I gather they were quite controversial at the time and my read now, much farther removed by time and nationality than Sontag would ever be, is that they are not wrong but in fact appropriately critical. “Regarding the Torture of Others,” discussing the torture (and torture photos) that emerged out of Abu Ghraib, was the standout.
After the bright middle section, the last section was somewhat of a let down. Over the course of her life Sontag was given many honorary awards and asked to speak at a variety of awards ceremonies, and this chapter collects some of these speeches. They focus on topics like “Literature is Freedom” and the meaning of ‘courage’. This reading felt like like I was back in a college literary theory class trying to boil down what a theorist was saying to something more intelligible. I’d often find myself at the end of a page without understanding at all what I’d just read, and having to read it all over again with concentrated focus. For all that, I didn’t find that the ideas she was putting down were such unexpected or insightful gems as to merit so much brainpower after a day of work.
May 19, 2020
Brilliance is difficult to read in long stretches, so I took my time on this beautiful collection of Sontag's acceptance speeches and essays, digesting them one at a time and wishing I could articulate their essence to my husband. I kind of always wanted to be an intellectual, so once in a while I reach out and read one to put myself firmly back onto earth, give myself a little consolation pat on the head. Sontag is other-worldly. Here is one of my favorite paragraphs about reading and writing from her acceptance of The Jerusalem Prize, entitled The Conscience of Words:
"I don't believe there is any inherent value in the cultivation of the self. And I think there is no culture (using the term normatively) without a standard of altruism, of regard for others. I do believe there is an inherent value in extending our sense of what a human life can be. If literature has engaged me as a project, first as a reader and then as a writer, it is as an extension of my sympathies to other selves, other domains, other dreams, other words, other territories of concern."
This speech, in particular, hit home for me, because of its attention to the English language itself, how fortunate we are to be able to speak and read and write in a language that almost the entire world's population needs to master in order to read the bulk of the globe's literature, both native and translated, to be able to access the bulk of the internet's research, to function at full capacity in our computerized age. She writes an abbreviated history of our language, does a quick-witted comparison of British and American literature (and cultures), and in the process has raised my sights for my own reading and writing going forward.
"I don't believe there is any inherent value in the cultivation of the self. And I think there is no culture (using the term normatively) without a standard of altruism, of regard for others. I do believe there is an inherent value in extending our sense of what a human life can be. If literature has engaged me as a project, first as a reader and then as a writer, it is as an extension of my sympathies to other selves, other domains, other dreams, other words, other territories of concern."
This speech, in particular, hit home for me, because of its attention to the English language itself, how fortunate we are to be able to speak and read and write in a language that almost the entire world's population needs to master in order to read the bulk of the globe's literature, both native and translated, to be able to access the bulk of the internet's research, to function at full capacity in our computerized age. She writes an abbreviated history of our language, does a quick-witted comparison of British and American literature (and cultures), and in the process has raised my sights for my own reading and writing going forward.
January 3, 2021
To write a positive book review without the language of back-covers and book-flaps is noteworthy. Sontag almost makes me want to read these "rare finds", even Tsypkin's Summer in Baden-Baden (notwithstanding Elkin's own favorable review), though imo Dostoevsky is a hack. The essay on Victor Serge may be the most interesting of this section, though her critique of Stalinism ("unfree society, plus all the murders") lacks insight beyond what any American at the time could have written. Yet there is also the interesting observation that the revolutionary is necessarily obligated to do the wrong thing (not a wholesale condemnation). Elsewhere her "critique of capital", mass culture, and U.S. imperialism all lack substance. (This is the fate of writing for a "public speech" - moreso for award acceptance speeches - which are, at the very least, "made for television".)
We detect some dissonance within her award speeches. Her praise of prose for it's ability to make time stretch and the distant near, to make characters' lives close to us and the Other known - perhaps correct - is only one part of what drives the obsessive reader (Sontag herself). The secret hope of this reader is the search for the Final Book, which will put everything to right (an impossibility), and for whom Sontag's romantic vision of vast tracts of literature stretching out into eternity is one of both excitement and crushing anxiety.
Her brief Photography: A Little Summa is the best work in the collection, as always.
We detect some dissonance within her award speeches. Her praise of prose for it's ability to make time stretch and the distant near, to make characters' lives close to us and the Other known - perhaps correct - is only one part of what drives the obsessive reader (Sontag herself). The secret hope of this reader is the search for the Final Book, which will put everything to right (an impossibility), and for whom Sontag's romantic vision of vast tracts of literature stretching out into eternity is one of both excitement and crushing anxiety.
Her brief Photography: A Little Summa is the best work in the collection, as always.
January 29, 2020
There's a lot to like about this book. I love the first few essays, where Sontag writes so passionately about literature that my "Want to Read" list has grown. Her passion about sharing these great books was very nice. I also love her essay on translation.
Some of her essays felt like they had unfinished ideas, which is fair since the the book was published posthumously, so I can't judge on this merit. I disagree with the last essay where she complains that with books that involve reader choice, the author can't craft an important story that is worth telling with that individual voice. It reminded me of Ebert's critique that games can't be art. But when I think of video games, there is player choice, but story can still exist. Outer Wilds comes to mind because I am playing it now. It is open world so players can choose to go anywhere at anytime. They enter the story at any point, but the story can't be changed (though arguably a player can finish the game without going through the entire story, like how a reader can speed read a book). But players who enjoy the act of exploring and getting to know a game in and of itself will experience the story and be moved. I guess what I wanted to say was that writers and artists can consider reader/player action, while still telling the story the writer/artist wanted to tell. The compromise that Sontag seems to assume doesn't exist for me.
Great series of essay, very original thoughts. I'll have to read more by Sontag.
Some of her essays felt like they had unfinished ideas, which is fair since the the book was published posthumously, so I can't judge on this merit. I disagree with the last essay where she complains that with books that involve reader choice, the author can't craft an important story that is worth telling with that individual voice. It reminded me of Ebert's critique that games can't be art. But when I think of video games, there is player choice, but story can still exist. Outer Wilds comes to mind because I am playing it now. It is open world so players can choose to go anywhere at anytime. They enter the story at any point, but the story can't be changed (though arguably a player can finish the game without going through the entire story, like how a reader can speed read a book). But players who enjoy the act of exploring and getting to know a game in and of itself will experience the story and be moved. I guess what I wanted to say was that writers and artists can consider reader/player action, while still telling the story the writer/artist wanted to tell. The compromise that Sontag seems to assume doesn't exist for me.
Great series of essay, very original thoughts. I'll have to read more by Sontag.
April 7, 2008
Like all of Sontag's work, "At the Same Time" has its pros and cons: It's more accessible than some of her other essays and reviews, but it's not nearly as powerful or universal as "Regarding the Pain of Others." The reviews were particularly interesting, because Sontag seemed drawn to obscure authors, giving her a chance to unravel their biographical yarns. The 9/11 essays were typically bitter, much like John Berger's sentiments from the same period (and should it be surprising? Two Leftist aesthetes, both elder writers, critics, and expatriates?). The book ends with a series of speeches, and the train is quickly derailed; speeches are written by a specific audience, confined and well-fed at a literary award ceremony. Like Rushdie's lectures, these speeches are long and cerebral, and without Sontag's actual voice reading them, all the dynamism is missing. Still, the collection is indespensable for a Sontag fan, as it chronicles her final years, before her unjustly early passing.
October 8, 2008
Susan Sontag was one of the most insightful and intelligent essayists of the last century. Her death is a tremendous loss to American Arts and Letters. At the Same Time is a collection of postumously published essays and speeches from the last few years. The collection reads like much of her work: articulate, precise, and always intellectually and morally "serious." I particularly liked her essay on Dostoyevsky and on translation, her clarity and depth of thought are truly reminiscent of Walter Benjamin here. I found her speeches a bit dry and contrived, not the form she's most comfortable in clearly. As always, she champions a number of neglected works of literature, one Russian, one American. Additionally, you will find excellent essays on 9/11 and the horrible events that unfolded in Iraq. Sontag's indignation is appropriate and timely.
Not a collection that is likely to eclipse Against Interpretation or Under the Sign of Saturn, but definitely worthwhile for all readers.
Not a collection that is likely to eclipse Against Interpretation or Under the Sign of Saturn, but definitely worthwhile for all readers.
January 2, 2014
While not her best, it is alas, the last. It was helpful also to read the foreword to better understand the context of these essays and how truly heart breaking to read the lament that she wishes she had more time to write about what burned deep inside her.
Many, many wonderful "big ideas" broken down into tiny bits:
1. There is no final photograph.
2. Literature was freedom. Especially in a time in which the values of reading and inwardness are so strenuously challenged.
3. The likelihood that your acts of resistance cannot stop the injustice does not exempt you from acting in what you sincerely and reflectively hold to be in the best interests of your community.
4. The greatest offense now, in matters both of the arts and of culture generally, not to mention political life, is to seem to be upholding some better, more exigent standard, which is attacked, both from the left and the right, as either naive or (a new banner for the philistines) "elitist."
December 2, 2015
Kind of average compared to her other works, so much so it's probably my least favourite collection of essays of hers. She still posses her trademark argumentative flair with a fist strong hold on economy, it's just that I don't think the topics are as worthy of discussion. The essay on Dostoyevsky is basically a brief bio on completely different author, and while her post 9/11 essays are damning, they are also somewhat repetitive. Most of the back end of the book are speeches, which I found a little trying at times. I will always admire Sontag's meta perspective of things; she broadens out every aspect of a topic and at times it seems like she is delivering one brilliant aphorism after another. It's just that I would probably point to Against Interpretation or On Photography if one was getting into Sontag's essays.
March 12, 2015
Madame Sontag es brillante, es aguda, es seria (asunto este último que podría pasar por defecto, si la empresa de su vida no hubiera sido tan grande). En estos ensayos se dedica a plantarnos ideíllas en pos de la libertad, sobre todo, además de las funciones, derechos y la ética de los escritores, la traducción, y la literatura misma. Nos habla de la modernidad (que ha de leerse como posmodernidad), de la fotografía, de los viajes, de la tortura. Pero Al mismo tiempo -como Sontag misma- no es una máquina de ideas: está salpicado también de felices panegíricos a obras (magnífico el de Artemisia), a la literatura rusa, a la mujer, a la vida. Quizá este libro valga más que cualquier epitafio que pudo haberse hecho a su memoria.
November 29, 2018
"To have access to literature, world literature, was to escape the prison of national vanity, of philistinism, of compulsory provincialism, of inane schooling, of imperfect destinies and bad luck. Literature was the passport to enter a larger life, that is, the zone of freedom. Literature was freedom. Especially in a time in which the values of reading and inwardness are so strenuously challenged, literature is freedom." - Quoted from "Literature is freedom". It has been a wonderful learning experience reading this book. It taught me what literature, writers and novelists are about. Indeed, literature is freedom. Without which, I would not have access to what I have accessed today, in this time and in this space.
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