The Guardian ran an extract from Susan Sontag’s new book ‘Regarding the Pain of Others’ (itself an edited version of a New Yorker article – how’s that for repurposing?). Sontag is an icon of a certain kind of politicised thinking about culture. So she’s come in for a lot of knee-jerk demonisation as the intellectual pendulum has swung back towards reaction, introversion, rejection ? especially post-9/11. It’s a relief that the piece is beautifully written ? discursive, tough-minded and poetic. I’m looking forward to the book.
In which I try, after 25 years of blogging, to drop my ironic stance a bit.