Susan Sontag still rocks our world ...
From the New York Times ...
'At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches'
By SUSAN SONTAG
Reviewed by PANKAJ MISHRA
Essays and speeches written after 9/11, in the final years
of Susan Sontag's life.
“I live,” she wrote after a trip to Vietnam in 1968, “in an unethical society that coarsens the sensibilities and thwarts the capacities for goodness of most people.” In her last speeches Sontag offered a similarly bleak view of the American-style consumer society that spreads itself across the globe, destroying the past, and enclosing all horizons within a selfish materialism. “We live in a culture committed to unifying greeds,” with “everyone on the planet feeding at the same trough of standardized entertainment and fantasies of eros and violence.”
'At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches'
By SUSAN SONTAG
Reviewed by PANKAJ MISHRA
Essays and speeches written after 9/11, in the final years
of Susan Sontag's life.
“I live,” she wrote after a trip to Vietnam in 1968, “in an unethical society that coarsens the sensibilities and thwarts the capacities for goodness of most people.” In her last speeches Sontag offered a similarly bleak view of the American-style consumer society that spreads itself across the globe, destroying the past, and enclosing all horizons within a selfish materialism. “We live in a culture committed to unifying greeds,” with “everyone on the planet feeding at the same trough of standardized entertainment and fantasies of eros and violence.”
Labels: Susan Sontag
posted by Berlinbound at 6:42 PM
8 Comments:
I wish I could say I was familiar with her work...
Guess I'm off to the Library...
Hi Berlin Bound,
I just noticed your comment on my blog and thought I'd return the favor (yes, it was months ago, sorry). I'm glad to see other expat writers in Cologne. Perhaps we can meet less virtually some day and swap stories. In any case, this is a cool place and I'll definitely come back.
PS To Jeffrey - American-style capitalism begat American-style consumer societies in nearly every nation in the world over the last century. Which is not to say that people in China or Vietnam are not human or don't also appreciate shopping, but to say that the ever-increasing demand for products is not innate but rather a response to American demands on other cultures in order to maintain a strong economy.
jeffrey,
I have "suffered" through a lot of kaffee-n-kuchen and can tell you: Germans can be funny, and they are definitely wise, so no, I don't know what you mean in your last comment.
Agree about Hermann though. My vote for Germany's best English-language blogger.
Jeffrey,
Not British, not American. My blog'll give you a clue, though.
Left a comment on JDub's blog about the smell of kak. Would have liked to have left another one on yours, but your name only links to a profile which I am not allowed to read.
I read Hammel occasionally. It is quite lawyer-specific, but he does have some incisive observations of a general nature as well.
Don't know about that understated British humour. They'll take the piss out of you five minutes after hello. And what about Monty Python? Exploding fat guys in restaurants? Throw out your dead? This is an ex-parrot? OK, they're history, but they do live on, iconic forever.
Whaa? My blog freezes on your computer? How weird. Can you please tell me what exactly you see? Perhaps I can get wordpress to look at the problem. What other German blogs give you trouble? That might also give us a clue.
Bryson's a real hoot. I think I've read all of his books at least twice, though I've heard his recent "history of nearly everything" is more or less a shameless way of cashing in on his fame to pay for the kids' tuition. Won't bother with it.
Have you read his romp through Australia?
Hi jeffrey,
So I guess since I can't get on any site you have and you can't see mine beyond the first page, we'll just have to continue this friendly "blog- jacking" here - if that's all right with Mr. D in Cologne?
I'm from near Vancouver - a city of nearly two million that some Americans already call a small town - so by comparison, I guess I was born in the rainforest and raised by wolves.
I'm going to get on the wordpress tech forum to see if it's a netscape problem. They advise for posting on wordpress to use only firefox, but so far I've read nothing about the public not being able to access wordpress blogs.
Kids in the Hall! Huge laughs there. They borrowed a lot of Monty Python antics like cross-dressing and skits with no punch line, but in a style all their own.
Ian
in Hamburg
jeffrey and ian ...
make yourselves at home.
OK, thanks!
Jeffrey,
What version of Netscape are you using? Can you download firefox and try accessing it that way?
cheers,
Ian
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