At the Same Time: Essays & Speeches

By Susan Sontag
Edited by Paolo Dilonardo and Anne Jump
Picador

This collection of essays and speeches by the noted Susan Sontag is assembled and introduced by her son, who, in his own writing, seems to be trying to piece together his mother just as we may be as her loyal readers. Discovering threads of the personal in her former texts, this assemblage of essays and speeches that she had already begun assembling before her death represents for her son the seriousness of Sontag as a reader/writer and consumer of the world around her.

The essays are particularly timely and the choices made for inclusion in the collection are strong. Questioning beauty and contemplating human torture at Abu Ghraib prison position the collection among our very contemporary thoughts and issues. The arguments, however, are still Sontag, often in depth and often belligerent. Particularly in regard to the collection of politically charged speeches included in the collection, a clear picture of Sontag’s perspective is presented.

In sum, the essays do what Sontag does best — document the world around her with biting insight. Never afraid to position her politics in the conversation, Sontag takes on the Bush administration’s positions on terrorism and the war in timed increments, documenting changes in her perspective that are clearly supported by an analysis of the changes in the rhetorical context as time makes history of the situation. Despite sometimes feeling mired more in Sontag’s personal thoughts than in public commentary, the essays are provocative in their attachment to literature and writing. Constantly reinforcing that fiction and literature have often been at the core of all political revolutions, Sontag’s expert attention to writing is at the core of each piece in the collection.

Cumulatively, the collection reminds us that art, literature, and creative endeavors are in and of themselves political actions that make an impact, and in Sontag’s case, sustain their power long after we’re gone.

Review by Julie E. Ferris, Ph.D.

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At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches