Susan Sontag is the most famous of the New York Intellectuals. And, besides her essay on Camp, which garnered Sontag a TIME magazine feature at the ripe old age of 31, she is known for major critical interventions in the history of ideas: Against Interpretation (1966), On Photography (1977), Illness as Metaphor (1978), AIDS and Its Metaphors (1988), and Regarding the Pain of Others (2003). Her mature fiction includes the historical novel The Volcano Lover (1992) and The Way We Live Now (1991). The latter is an indelible story about the early AIDS crisis. Sontag’s intellectual breadth explores important themes such as the history of illness from antiquity to postmodernity, including cancer and HIV/AIDS; the nature of a postmodern social world governed by visual culture, by the empire of the image; and the representation of war and war crimes, such as torture (Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib), and other social calamities. Sontag is also known for her on-the-ground advocacy during the Siege of Sarajevo, where she directed a production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot while bullets flew across the city. This seminar will focus on these varied texts and genres and areas of intellectual inquiry, while we explore the complex legacy of the most influential public intellectual and cultural critic of the late 20th C. As a TSSL Course, Sontag will culminate in public lectures presented by seminarians at the end of the semester.

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 15

Prerequisites: Open to Juniors and Seniors who have completed one course in English at the 100 or 200 level, or by permission of the instructor.

Distribution Requirements: EC - Epistemology and Cognition; LL - Language and Literature

Typical Periods Offered: Fall and Spring

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring

Notes: