Sontagonism

Susan Sontag was a writer of depth and intelligence who I admired, but failed to understand. Her early journals which have recently been published, edited by her son, David Rieff, are fascinating, if still a bit cryptic. Some of the easier-to-understand samples:
"There is often a contradiction between the meaning of our actions toward a person and what we say we feel toward that person in a journal. But this does not mean that what we do is shallow and only what we confess to ourselves is deep."
"I hardly think except when I'm talking. That's why I talk so much."
"Inspiration presents itself to me in the form of anxiety."
"Some years ago I realized that reading made me sick, that I was like an alcoholic who nevertheless experiences a bad hangover after each binge."
Above is an old picture of me with Sontag at a reading she gave in 1986. Inserting myself Zelig-like into every photo opportunity!