To Tell a Story (Canons)

Published for the first time, John Berger and Susan Sontag's collaboration and correspondence across a quarter-century offers a rare glimpse into the minds of two intellectual giants of the twentieth century

Despite their status as intellectual giants of the twentieth century, John Berger and Susan Sontag's artistic collaboration - and intense friendship - remains virtually unknown.

Published for the first time, To Tell a Story offers a glimpse into their shared history that spanned nearly a quarter-century. From sources such as their eponymous film broadcast, rare personal letters and archival recordings, the composite fragments build a portrait of a relationship that was often lively and challenging, sometimes trivial and always affectionate.

Berger and Sontag's voices echo throughout these pages, riffing off the other as they grapple with their respective concerns. Above all, their conversations reveal a deep reciprocal admiration and an exchange of ideas about storytelling, the self and society that informed their own work.

John Berger was born in London in 1926. His seminal Ways of Seeing was one of the most influential books on art in the twentieth century. His many books, innovative in form and far-reaching in their historical and political insight, include To the Wedding, King and the Booker Prize-winning novel, G. He died, aged ninety, in January 2017.

Susan Sontag was born in Manhattan in 1933. Her non-fiction works include Against Interpretation, On Photography, Illness as Metaphor, AIDS and its Metaphors, Regarding the Pain of Others and At the Same Time. She was also the author of four novels, including The Volcano Lover and In America, as well as a collection of stories and several plays. In 2001 she was awarded the Jerusalem Prize for the body of her work and in 2003 she received the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. She died in December 2004.

Beno�t Bourreau is a writer and filmmaker based in Paris. His cinematic work primarily focuses on the aesthetics of art and its legacy, exploring the narratives rooted in memory.