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56th out of 122 books
—
25 voters
At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches (Nagelaten werk deel I)
"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...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
March 6th 2007
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(first published 2007)
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Not gonna lie - as much as I enjoy Sontag's occasional pieces on great writers like Tsypkin and Banti, I found myself racing through the series of such pieces that opens this collection (while these are fine, they don't reveal anything of Sontag's literary sensibilities that we didn't already know), to get to the speeches on political life. And these reveal a side of Sontag I'd rarely seen before. While perhaps they came off as stuffy as she spoke, here the speeches' uncompromising clarity is an...more
A personal hero. Very fast-paced, straight forward. I do like reading speeches.
"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 so...more
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 ae...more
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...more
Sontag was a seriously smart woman. In these pieces she riffs wisely on beauty, politics, literature's role, photography and modernity. She wasn't a gritty writer; she was an elite thinker who adored life expressed through "high" culture. But she wasn't scared to look evil and pain in the face and to confront it in a bold tone.
As a writer, I don't strive to emulate Sontag; her ideas aren't articulated as accessibly as they deserve to be. But I learn a lot from her nonetheless. Her writing leaves...more
As a writer, I don't strive to emulate Sontag; her ideas aren't articulated as accessibly as they deserve to be. But I learn a lot from her nonetheless. Her writing leaves...more
This is the last collection of essays by Sontag, the\work she was comopiling before she died. I am going to copy her essays on 9-11 and its aftermath, plus one on photography that describes our current way of seeing in fragments with previous mankinds way of seeing the whole picture. I couldn't give her five stars because the essays about writers and works I don't know are slow reading, for me.
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!
Like her literary critiques, but her political ones are just too American for a third-world reader.
A bit academic and pompous -- but overall, great discussions and many conversation starters. Inspired me to explore 20th century Russian lit.
aish dapat lagi satu buku Susan Sontag...:)
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Jan 31, 2009
Lauren G
added it
who doesn't find sontag interesting. i read a few of these essays, and would like to read more. i'm looking forward to reading more. i prefer her less academic explorations, and enjoy her more 'overview' type pieces which incorporate her lightning sharp intelligence and vast worldly knowledge.
A very brillant woman. Her reaction of 9/11 a few days/weeks later is thought provoking.
It has been a lot time since I haven't 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 definately a must read. It has definitely pushed my ideas beyond my current comfortable state of mind.
Brilliant right to the end.
Oct 21, 2012
~*Rachael*~
marked it as to-read
Another great dollar tree find! :-)
"A writer is first of all a reader. It is from reading that I derive the standards by which I measure my own work and according to which I fall lamentably short. It is from reading, even before writing, that I became part of a community -- the community of literature -- which includs more dead than living writers." ~ Susan Sontag
"A writer is first of all a reader. It is from reading that I derive the standards by which I measure my own work and according to which I fall lamentably short. It is from reading, even before writing, that I became part of a community -- the community of literature -- which includs more dead than living writers." ~ Susan Sontag
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.
I've always liked Sontag from her remarkable "Against Interpretation" essays, and this book didn't disappoint. She contemplates 9/11 in a series of essays -- the day of, a few weeks after, a year after. Also, she includes a thrilling essay on the relationship between America and Europe.
I am a big Sontag fan so when this came out I had to get it. It's a collection of speeches and essays and they are not grouped thematically, so the collection is a bit disjointed at times. But if you love Sontag, you should read it. She was such an important person.
Sontaggato come "Sontag".
Sono una raccolta di riflessioni, articoli, idee, pensieri.
Lo stile maturo di una intellettuale onnivora non si fa mai maniera, e noi beviamo a quella fonte.
Un punto d'accesso all'opera di Susan.
Sono una raccolta di riflessioni, articoli, idee, pensieri.
Lo stile maturo di una intellettuale onnivora non si fa mai maniera, e noi beviamo a quella fonte.
Un punto d'accesso all'opera di Susan.
Although this is a fairly uneven mix of Sontag's most recent work, her biting, on-the-mark insights about American politics and culture are definitely worth reading.
A little disappointed in the book itself. Too wordy for me. Great insights and takes on life & what not, but just not my kind of 'amazing' essay collection.
Boring. Elitist. Arrogant. Naive. Pedantic.
Avoid books by writers referred to/who refer to themselves as "intellectuals."
Avoid books by writers referred to/who refer to themselves as "intellectuals."
Excellent. Such clarity of thought and expression, stimulates the mind. Many suggestions for future reading as well.
Maybe I'm just not intellectual enough to read Sontag. I would have liked to have a drink with her though.
Just read it
I'm uncomfortable with the way she writes, but we'll see.
the last book I read. For 911.
May 20, 2013
Mahomed Fazel
marked it as to-read
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Jewish American literary theorist, novelist, filmmaker, and feminist activist.
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“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 the best interests of your community.”
—
72 people liked it
“Time exists in order that everything doesn’t happen all at once…and space exists so that it doesn’t all happen to you.”
—
68 people liked it
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