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developing a descriptive vocabulary for how it appears and how it does whatever it does. She believes that interpretation of the modern style has a particular "taming" effect: reducing the freedom of a subjective response and placing limitations or certain rules upon a responder. The modern style of interpretation is particularly despised by Sontag in relation to the previous classical style of interpretation that sought to "bring artworks up to date", to meet modern interests and apply
210:– fallacious, complicated "readings" that seem to engulf an artwork, to the extent that analysis of content begins to degrade, to destroy. Reverting to a more primitive and sensual, almost magical experience of art is what Sontag desires; even though that is quite impossible due to the thickened layers of hermeneutics that surround interpretation of art and that have grown to be recognised and respected. Sontag daringly challenges
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means a loss of sensory experience and she believes (in corroboration with her theory of the damaging nature of criticism) that the pleasure of art is diminished by such overload of the senses. In this way, Sontag asserts that inevitably, the modern style of interpretation separates form and content
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Though she claims that interpretation can be "stifling", making art comfortable and "manageable" and thus degrading the artist's original intention, Sontag equally presents a solution to the dilemma she sees as an abundance of interpretation on content. That is, to approach art works with a strong
202:
readings. Where this type of interpretation was seen to resolve conflict between past and present by revamping an art work and maintaining a certain level of respect and honour, Sontag believes that the modern style of interpretation has lost sensitivity and rather strives to "excavate...destroy" a
423:
later observed, "This classic collection of essays and criticism from the 1960s flatters the reader's intelligence without being intimidating." He added, "...the essays are unfailingly stimulating. Though they bear the stamp of their time, Sontag was remarkably prescient; her project of analysing
416:
as "a vivid bit of living history here and now, and at the end of the sixties it may well rank among the invaluable cultural chronicles of these years." He concluded, "Miss Sontag has written a ponderable, vivacious, beautifully living and quite astonishingly
American book." Brandon Robshaw of
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interpretation and content-based interpretation. Sontag is strongly averse to what she considers to be contemporary interpretation, that is, an overabundance of importance placed upon the content or meaning of an artwork rather than being keenly alert to the sensuous aspects of a given work and
424:
popular culture as well as high culture, the Doors as well as
Dostoevsky, is now common practice throughout the educated world. And the artists and intellectuals she discusses—Nietzsche, Camus, Godard, Barthes etc—demonstrate that she knew which horses to back."
225:... material plentitude" where one's physical senses have been dulled and annihilated by mass production and complex interpretation to the extent that appreciation of the form of art has been lost. To Sontag,
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and
Elizabeth S. Anker argue that the title essay from Sontag's collection has played an important role in the field of
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and emphasis on the "content" or "meaning" of a work. The book was a finalist for the Arts and
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neglects the sensuous impact and novelty of art, instead fitting works into predetermined intellectual
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Sontag asserts that the modern style is quite harmful to art and to audiences alike; enforcing
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that attempts to find new forms of reading and interpretation that go beyond the methods of
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emphasis on form, to "reveal the sensuous surface of art without mucking about in it."
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which discusses the divisions between two different kinds of art criticism and theory:
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in a manner that damages an artwork and one's own sensorial appreciation of a piece.
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As
Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964–1980
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165:. It includes some of Sontag's best-known works, including "
189:"Against Interpretation" is Sontag's influential essay in
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Use of Sontag's theories to evaluate literature and drama
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The essay was first published in Volume 8, number 34 of
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Sontag also refers to the contemporary world as one of "
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Page for
Against Interpretation on official Sontag site
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514:
512:
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338:"Spiritual style in the films of Robert Bresson" (1964)
306:"Nathalie Sarraute and the novel" (1963; revised 1965)
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theories, claiming they are "aggressive and impious".
383:"Happenings: an art of radical juxtaposition" (1962)
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296:"The literary criticism of Georg Lukac" (1965)
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393:"One culture and the new sensibility" (1965)
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587:"Against Interpretation, By Susan Sontag"
273:"The artist as exemplary sufferer" (1962)
143:1966 collection of essays by Susan Sontag
941:Reborn: Journals and Notebooks 1947–1963
619:Elizabeth S. Anker, Rita Felski (2017).
191:Against Interpretation and Other Essays,
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525:. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
523:Against Interpretation and Other Essays
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154:Against Interpretation and Other Essays
584:Robshaw, Brandon (26 September 2009).
402:In a contemporary review of the book,
376:"Psychoanalysis and Norman O. Brown's
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657:essay in response to Susan Sontag's
348:"The imagination of disaster" (1965)
365:"A note on novels and films" (1961)
293:"The anthropologist as hero" (1963)
553:. The New York Times Book Review.
14:
255:are divided into five sections.
559:. pp. 5, 32. Archived from
1030:Farrar, Straus and Giroux books
600:from the original on 2016-04-27
327:"Going to theater, etc." (1964)
262:"Against Interpretation" (1964)
654:For and Against Interpretation
373:"Piety without content" (1961)
330:"Marat / Sade / Artaud" (1965)
1:
488:"National Book Awards - 1967"
324:"The death of tragedy" (1963)
1040:Essays in literary criticism
991:"Taylor & Francis Group"
803:Regarding the Pain of Others
1015:Books of literary criticism
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1025:American essay collections
157:) is a 1966 collection of
965:Sontag: Her Life and Work
621:Critique and Postcritique
429:Critique and Postcritique
427:In their introduction to
76:Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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750:Under the Sign of Saturn
492:National Book Foundation
469:Aesthetic interpretation
148:Against Interpretation
17:Against Interpretation
1020:English-language books
1010:1966 non-fiction books
796:AIDS and Its Metaphors
757:Where the Stress Falls
736:Styles of Radical Will
721:Against Interpretation
659:Against Interpretation
521:Sontag, Susan (1966).
414:Against Interpretation
253:Against Interpretation
1035:Works by Susan Sontag
457:ideological criticism
549:(January 23, 1966).
439:, a movement within
276:"Simone Weil" (1963)
151:(often published as
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842:The Way We Live Now
789:Illness as Metaphor
551:"Lady on the Scene"
179:National Book Award
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924:Letter from Venice
900:Duet for Cannibals
556:The New York Times
441:literary criticism
409:The New York Times
378:Life Against Death
243:in December 1964.
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883:Lady from the Sea
849:The Volcano Lover
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713:Essay collections
630:978-0-8223-6376-7
353:Flaming Creatures
265:"On Style" (1965)
251:The 26 pieces in
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92:Publication place
44:Cover artist
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240:Evergreen Review
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699:Susan Sontag
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562:the original
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48:Ellen Raskin
38:Susan Sontag
934:Other works
835:I, etcetera
706:Non-fiction
433:Rita Felski
301:Saint Genet
200:allegorical
1004:Categories
873:A Parsifal
856:In America
781:Monographs
497:30 January
475:References
358:"Resnais'
341:"Godard's
319:The Deputy
299:"Sartre's
171:aesthetics
829:Death Kit
697:Works by
604:April 14,
569:April 14,
398:Reception
281:Notebooks
227:modernity
195:formalist
72:Publisher
66:Criticism
922:(a.k.a.
771:On Women
598:Archived
463:See also
449:critique
431:(2017),
412:praised
390:" (1964)
380:" (1961)
362:" (1963)
321:" (1964)
303:" (1963)
290:" (1964)
283:" (1963)
247:Contents
216:Freudian
54:Language
957:Related
817:Fiction
288:Manhood
279:Camus'
212:Marxian
62:Subject
57:English
627:
529:
455:, and
360:Muriel
355:(1964)
345:(1964)
159:essays
136:171772
34:Author
892:Films
866:Plays
310:III.
108:Pages
103:Print
971:Camp
625:ISBN
606:2016
571:2016
527:ISBN
499:2017
443:and
334:IV.
269:II.
258:I.
214:and
130:OCLC
117:ISBN
87:1966
406:of
369:V.
161:by
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