Description

Due to rights issues, the audio of this interview is not available online. Please contact San Diego State University, Special Collections and Archives if you wish to be granted access to the original audio. Susan Sontag takes question from an audience. She begins with a description of how she views her work and its place in the current literary world. She explains that she is more influenced by European writes than American writers. She has bounced between fiction and essays until “the essay monster took over my life” and she did that for a long time until she finally gave it up so she could write other things. She explains that she strives for Nietzsche’s “aesthetic justification of existence”. In response to a question, Sontag explains the difference between her essays and her fiction and the writing style inherent in each form. She talks about she enjoys writing about artists and what they do. She explains what she sees as the importance of writing essays as opposed to writing fiction. In a brief discussion of the current state of major writers she expresses strong admiration for the writing of John Updike but notably dislikes Thomas Pynchon. She discusses the value of creative writing programs at universities. In reaction to a comparison to Tom Wolfe, she notes her disdain for Wolfe personally, his writing and the comparison itself. The final part of the discussion concerns her well-known essay “Notes on ‘Camp’”. A section of the middle of the Q & A session is absent due to recording issues.