Susan Sontag, author and activist, dies at 71

[Shakespeare]

We've lost another great writer and great liberal.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/a/2004/12/28/obituary1250EST0527.DTL

Susan Sontag, the author, activist and self-defined "zealot of seriousness" whose voracious mind and provocative prose made her a leading intellectual of the past half century, died Tuesday. She was 71.

Sontag died Tuesday morning, officials at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center said. She had been treated for breast cancer in the 1970s.

Sontag called herself a "besotted aesthete," an "obsessed moralist" and a "zealot of seriousness."

[flygal]

1. Rest in Peace Susan

[Itascapark]

2. Ah, you beat me to it...

I agree...a great liberal mind...I hope Gore Vidal is around for a bit longer.

[Shakespeare]

4. Me, too.

And he seems to piss off the other side a lot more than our lovely, dignified Susan did....so yay for that.

[prodigal_green]

3. So many of my intellectual heroes have passed away

I hope she's enjoying a scotch with the lot of them right now.

[patdem]

5. She was on Book TV on C-Span2 being interviewed by Brian Lamb

about a year ago. I am SHOCKED that she is 71!!! I am not sure how old the interview was, but it seemed to be current...For her to be 71 is shocking to me!!!

Edit: here is a link to get you to the interview. http://www.booktv.org/feature/index.asp?schedid=177&segid=3133

[SariesNightly]

6. We've lost a leading light..

We need more zealots of seriousness in this age of plasticity.

I hope Noam Chomsky and George Carlin live longer than the Queen Mother.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

8. Chomsky is in his mid-70s, I think

and Howard Zinn is in his mid-80s. I hopw these two live a lot longer.

[umtalal]

7. I saw her with Bill Moyers on Now. Rest in peace Susan. n/t

[UpInArms]

9. RIP Susan

[sonias]

10. Rest in Peace Susan

We thank you for your life and work.
:cry:

Sonia

[wicket]

11. Her book "On Photography" was required for one of my photo classes

It's such a classic. Rest in peace Susan.

[henslee]

12. To me, she was exotic and formed the idea of what an intellectual

should look like -- at least to me, as a teenager. With her streak of gray, her appearance in a Woody Allen movie -- she was singular and mysterious. I read a book on film she wrote, would catch an inteview now and then and read some articles. I am sad.

[saltpoint]

13. Susan, just wanted to say goodbye to a wide ranger --

-- and also 'thank you' for a brave life of the mind.

[TahitiNut]

14. Maybe they should dub "Bull Durham" back to the original script.

Where Crash (Costner) says "the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap," the script calls for him to say "the novels of Thomas Pynchon are self-indulgent, overrated crap."

[wicket]

16. I never knew that

Why'd they change it?

[TahitiNut]

17. I don't know ... maybe they thought Sontag was more recognizable?

While Susan Sontag is associated with an aspect of feminism (a reputation as the radical-liberal American woman), Pynchon's cultural role (60's, dope-smoking, Gravity's Rainbow, et. al.) is still less stereotypically well-known (despite an 'appearance' on the Simpsons).

[robbedvoter]

23. I bet it was Costner's idea.

[Shakespeare]

24. Heh...I wondered the same thing.

Somehow, I have no problem seeing him as someone who would 1. jump on an opportunity to slam a heavyweight feminist intellectual, and 2. fancy himself bright enough to actually know Pynchon's work--and understand it--well enough to opt not to criticize it.

As my only evidence (aside from my cynical opinion): "I am Robin of Loxley!" said with a flat midwestern accent....shudder.

:evilgrin:

[TahitiNut]

26. Even accepting Costner's right-wing leanings ...

... I'd be a bit perplexed that he'd emphasize the faux-macho rather than the faux-anti-hippie persona. Panning Sontag implies a more misogynistic attitude than is consistent with "slow, deep kisses lasting 3 (originally 7) days." Panning Pynchon portrays a harbored resentment to the "hippies" (cartoonishly anti-pro-sports), not women. In all, I think the original choice of Pynchon is more consistent with the character of Crash - whose "enlightened" libido isn't at all misogynistic, imho.

Then again, I'm about the farthest thing from being an expert on Sontag and Pynchon or on the pop-cultural esteem in which they're held. (I'll sadly never be as well-versed as I'd want to be.)

[Shakespeare]

27. Nah, I was just taking advantage of the opportunity to say catty things...

..about Costner. I know a bit about him from my time in LA (he used to hit on a friend of mine relentlessly), and don't exactly hold him in the highest regard. ;-)

Love Bull Durham--heck, love several of Costner's movies--just don't love Costner so much.

[TahitiNut]

32. Well, I like his work, too. I'm just more perpelexed that anyone would ..

... substitute Sontag for Pynchon in that soliloquy given the Crash persona. I'm one of the LEAST familiar with either Sontag or Pynchon, but that nomination always struck a faint false note with me from the first time I saw Bull Durham, even before I knew the trivia. I have to think it was changed by someone other than the scriptwriter - Pynchon seems to be a better 'target.' :shrug:

[rocketdem]

39. While I respect Pynchon's work...

...I would accept the categorization of his work in that manner long befoer I would accept it for Ms. Sontag.

[msanthrope]

15. "I will not allow that I was moved by justice rather than love,

for justice is also a form of love. I did know about power. I did see how this world was ruled, but I did not accept it. I wanted to set an example. I wanted not to disappoint myself. But I was afraid as well as angry, in ways I felt to powerless to admit. So I did not speak of my fears but rather of my hopes. I was afraid my anger would offend others, and they would destroy me. For all my certitude, I feared I would never be strong enough to understand what would allow me to protect myself. Sometimes I had to forget that I was a woman to accomplish the best part of which I was capable. Or I would lie to myself about how complicated it is to be a woman. Thus do all women, including the author of this book. But I cannot forgive those who did not care about more than their own glory or well-being. They thought they were civilized. They were despicable. Damn them all."

Elenora de Fonseca Pimentel
The Volcano Lover

I will miss you, Susan. Thank you.

[EmpireWeAre]

18. Rarest of the rare in modern journalism.

She walked her talk and didn't compromise her morals or ideals.

[Amaya]

19. Yes, very sad

I had the privilege of meeting her once. This is goddamn sad.

[bluestateguy]

20. Oh, the Freepers will have fun with this one

[Psephos]

21. A bright star in the night sky has been dimmed... n/t

[dogindia]

22. bet she isn't resting

go SS

[Just Me]

25. No. Susan can never die.

She will never die.

[aphonic]

28. --------

The past itself, as historical change continues to accelerate, has become the most surreal of subjects - making it possible... to see a new beauty in what is vanishing.
Susan Sontag

The world morns the passing of a true visionary. We will miss you.

[Armand04]

33. AMEN

There're special people whose words and ethic achievements make them inmortal. Susan Sontag is among 'em.

Rest in Peace

Proud member of the Spanish Workers Socialist Party (PSOE)

[donheld]

29. Another great loss May she be at peace

[AmericanRevival6]

30. An Important Figure

Sontag, to me, was a figure of great power. Her intellectual domain lay somewhere between Alan Sokal and Ted Rall. She will be greatly missed.

[mitchum]

31. Rest In Peace, Ms Sontag

[hippywife]

34. Truly a sad day

to lose such a wonderful soul and activist for justice.

Exerpts from 4/4/03 interview on NOW with Bill Moyers:

What I want people to think about is how serious war is. How it is elective. It's not an inevitable state of affairs. War is not the weather. I want people to think about what war is. And at the same time, I know it's very hard. I end the book by saying, in a way the world is divided into people who know-- have had direct experience of war, and people who haven't.

And if you've had a direct experience of war, and I think every single soldier, or journalist who's been-- in-- you know, in the trenches and the front line or an observer-- or human rights worker, or anybody who has actually had a direct experience, prolonged direct experience with war, knows that when you go home, and people say, "How was it?" Or "What was it like?" You really can't explain. You can't-- you-- you-- you feel as if you can never tell them what it was really like.

<snip>

I am an activist in that. I feel a need to put my life where my mouth is or my life where my keyboard is. I feel a need to act on what I believe or what I say I believe. It's if I don't act on it then I don't think it's worth anything.

more:
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_sontag.html

[ArthurDent]

35. Bull

"Well, I believe in the soul. The cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hangin' curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent over-rated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there oughtta be a Constitutional amendment outlawing astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve, and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days. Good night."

To think, Susan Sarandon said it.

[Tangledog]

36. Who I thought of...

...when I thought of "intellectual" in the best sense of the word. Who said that being a zealot of seriousness was so bad?

[rocketdem]

37. Rest in peace Susan.

I know that several others said the same thing, but I just want to add my voice as someone who appreciated her writing very much.

[Name removed]

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