Sontag, Susan Subject (14 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. 370 pages. Published in 2000. Pioneering biography on subject. One of the most fascinating literary biographies of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Carl Rollyson's and Lisa Paddock's "Susan Sontag: The Making of An Icon". A gossip-filled account on the life and (some of the) work of the iconic American intellectual/writer of our time. Sontag did not endorse or cooperate with the project, indeed tried to derail and suppress it. As such, it is not surprising because the relatively short book is filled with juicy, sometimes salacious, potentially libelous anecdotal material. At the same time, it is, paradoxically, a genuinely admiring homage to Sontag's ambition, achievement, and unique place in American literature. One of Sontag's concerns about the book was that she was still very much alive at the time of its publication, fully expected to live and produce great work a little while longer (she died four years later, in 2004 at the relatively young age of 71), and rightly felt that every biography, especially that of a living person, casts a posthumous shadow, however inadvertent, over its subject. Nonetheless, she comes across in this inaugural biography as The Real Thing, a celebrity who was also a serious thinker, lived a full life celebrating the diversions and play of the mind. Celebrities, bar none, are superficial if not downright vacant, in our Social Media Age more so than ever. Sontag, flaws and all, engaged others because what she had to say was important, enriching, and enduring. An absolute "must-have" title for Susan Sontag collectors. This title is now collectible. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. Winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977 for "On Photography", the National Book Award in 2000 for "In America", and the Jerusalem Prize in 2001. Shimon Peres, in awarding the Jerusalem Prize, described Sontag as "one of the world's finest writers and greatest minds". One of the most influential and important writer-intellectuals of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SUSAN SONTAG TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0393049280. no.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. 244 pages. Published in 2004. The author's breakthrough debut book. Now widely considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Craig Seligman's "Sontag & Kael: Opposites Attract Me". A passionate critical study on its binary subjects. "Seligman's thesis is very simple: He sees and assesses the two writers, both immensely influential, as complete opposites, one of whom he reveres (Sontag), the other, he loves (Kael). Were he forced to choose, he would choose the latter" (Publisher's blurb). The single best appraisal of Seligman's fascinating thesis is by Philip Kennicott: "Seligman's very good book isn't flawed by its prejudice for Kael. Rather, it's rendered more human. The love shines through. But a book about Kael and Sontag shouldn't dodge the issue of influence. Kael was a delight to read, but the Kael style - the bitchiness, the unrelenting certainty of opinion - has been a malign force in American criticism, which all too often burbles along as a stream of witty one-liners and provocative pronouncements. Sontag and Kael may represent poles of an argument about art and style, but we must not lose sight of our need for less Kael and more Sontag. When Sontag warned us, in the aftermath of 9/11, that while we should grieve together, we must not be stupid together, she was warning us against making the kind of movie Kael's detractors accused her of loving. Do not go to war in the name of narrative simplicity, do not be bloodthirsty, do not seek revenge. Sontag was right, clear-headed, and prescient. Kael was never the political animal that Sontag was, and thus she was never as heroically right about anything as Sontag is. Kael was a talent; Sontag is a genius" (The Washington Post). An absolute "must-have" title for Susan Sontag, Pauline Kael, and Craig Seligman collectors. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. One of the most brilliant critics of our time on two of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SUSAN SONTAG AND PAULINE KAEL TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 1582433119. no.

Soft cover. Condition: As New. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. 1 pages. Published in 1999. Rare Susan Sontag collectible item. A pristine copy of the Barnes & Noble Bookstores advertisement to promote its newly launched website. Features the author as a literary celebrity/personality who is also an authoritative guide to modern literature. The advertisement is in black-and-white, measures 8 X 10 inches, and is encased in its own protective plastic sleeve. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Susan Sontag's list of "20th Century Books Discovered By Translation". Lovely. The ten books in the list were largely unknown at the time of the advertisement's publication, reinforcing Sontag's reputation as "au courant" cultural ambassador and influential champion of great, foreign-language literatures to English-language readers, an exemplar not just of openness and diversity but of the modern ideal itself, cosmopolitanism. It is somewhat touching that Barnes & Noble really believed in 1999 that the Internet will make people more cosmopolitan (or at the very least, less provincial) than they were before. The reality is that the Internet mirrors not a global village, but radical fragmentation. As such, it has had the exact opposite effect of making people more defensively "nationalistic" than ever. While the advertisement is now a literary curiosity, Sontag's List has been vindicated by the passage of time and remains definitive. An absolute "must-have" collectible, not just memorabilia, item for Susan Sontag collectors. This is a copy of the actual advertisement, not a later photographic re-issue or digital copy. It is now collectible. As far as we know, this is the only copy available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. A rare copy thus. Winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977 for "On Photography", the National Book Award in 2000 for "In America", and the Jerusalem Prize in 2001. Shimon Peres, in awarding the Jerusalem Prize, described Sontag as "one of the world's finest writers and greatest minds". One of the most influential and important writer-intellectuals of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SUSAN SONTAG TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). no.

Soft cover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. 265 pages. Published in 2005. Rare Susan Sontag and Arthur C. Danto collectible item. A fine copy of the Artforum Magazine March 2005 Issue, which features the author in a side photograph on the cover. Published to commemorate and evaluate Sontag's life and work through obituary-essays by the great American philosopher Arthur C. Danto, culture critic and poet Wayne Koestenbaum, and other major contributors. Koestenbaum's and Danto's essays are marked with grief partly because they both knew her personally, and as such, are the best pieces of the lot. Indeed, Danto's assessment of what Sontag meant to Western culture is one of the best things ever written about her: "As often happens with a death, we realize what our true feelings are. I knew from the intensity of my grief that she was irreplaceable as only someone we love is irreplaceable. She created a place for herself, and her uniqueness was such that the place died with her" (Arthur C. Danto). Artforum is an art, not a literary, magazine. Its remembrance of Sontag is a unique gesture, and testimony to the fact that Sontag's influence extended to the visual and performing arts, particularly film, contemporary art, and photography, in a way that no other American writer of our time ever exerted. Only a tiny handful of American authors get the same kind of exposure nowadays not because they are less accomplished or charismatic than Sontag, but because the very idea of Art (an end in itself) no longer has the life-and-death significance that Technology does (a means to an end that is now widely regarded as an end in itself). An absolute "must-have" collectible, not just memorabilia, item for Susan Sontag collectors. This Magazine Issue is now collectible. As far as we know, this is the only copy available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. A rare copy thus. Winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977 for "On Photography", the National Book Award in 2000 for "In America", and the Jerusalem Prize in 2001. Shimon Peres, in awarding the Jerusalem Prize, described Sontag as "one of the world's finest writers and greatest minds". One of the most influential and important writer-intellectuals of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SUSAN SONTAG TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). no.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. 322 pages. Published in 1987. Landmark collection of essays. Festschrift of the author. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only as a "birthday present" on the occasion of the Nobel Prize Laureate's 80th birthday. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents "Essays In Honor of Elias Canetti". Reflective and admiring homages by fellow writers to Elias Canetti, one of the 20th century's most eccentric and original literary geniuses. Contributors include such marquee names as Walter Allen, John Bayley, Claudio Magris, Salman Rushdie, and Susan Sontag, among others, brilliant, world-class writers in their own right. As an aphorist, that is, as a writer who needed to have the Last Word on a particular subject, Elias Canetti had few rivals. Here his grateful fellow-writers are given the rare opportunity to express their sentiment and thought on his influence and intimidating greatness. "His exacting presence honors literature" (George Steiner). Yes, except for the fact that Canetti had a child-like sense of humor, and despite (or because of) his genius, was irrational in his fear of Women and Death. About death, in particular, he wrote willfully (rather than rationally). He considered its rejection - by the mind, which is "immortal" though alas, trapped in the perishable body - as the only appropriate, comprehensible response to death. The "mind-versus-body" fantasy that Canetti took seriously is surely THE fantasy that every intellectual-rationalist also has: It is unthinkable for every great mind to imagine let alone accept death. Genius will never die even if the body must. Hence the aptness of this "posthumous" collection. An absolute "must-have" title for Elias Canetti collectors. This title is a great collection. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER ELIAS CANETTI TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0374148899. no.

Hardcover. Condition: As New. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. 214 pages. Published in 2016. Book-length account on subject. One of the most important considerations on the achievement of Susan Sontag as a thinker. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with the Softcover Edition or Print-On-Demand. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original for the use mainly of university collections and public libraries. As such, the book is very beautifully produced: Regular-sized volume format. Glossy pictorial hard boards, which enlarge a page from Susan Sontag's journals, written in her own hand. Printed on pristine-white, archival stock paper in Edinburgh, Scotland to the highest standards. Without DJ, as issued. Presents Mena Mitrano's "In The Archive of Longing: Susan Sontag's Critical Modernism". Her courageous, pioneering attempt to re-connect her subject to the wider universe of modern critical and philosophical theory, in which Sontag was trained and remained steeped throughout her writing life. "Illuminates the intimate link between modernism and theory while also providing a fascinating re-introduction to these two movements and concepts. Explores three core ideas in this study: The confusion of terms between modernism and theory; the concept of an 'unwritten theory' suggested by Sontag's subterranean engagement with the foremost theorists of our time - Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze, Lacan, Jameson, and others; and Sontag's identity as a non-traditional philosopher through her extraordinary discipleship to Walter Benjamin" (Publisher's blurb). "An invaluable contribution to the new wave of Sontag scholarship. Sontag rarely wrote about the grand masters of contemporary theory, but thanks to Mitrano's archival sleuthing, we now know that Sontag's personal papers and marginalia display no such reticence. More than merely excavating these tantalizing nuggets of intellectual history, Mitrano deploys them to trace Sontag's metamorphosis from a precocious student of philosophy into a great aesthete-voluptuary and public intellectual" (Roger Copeland). An absolute "must-have" title for Susan Sontag collectors. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Precedes and should NOT be confused with the Softcover Edition or Print-On-Demand. Published as a hardcover original for the use mainly of university collections and public libraries. A rare copy thus. One of the most important and influential writer/intellectuals of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SUSAN SONTAG TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 1474414346. no.

Hardcover. Condition: As New. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. 265 pages. Published in 2009. Retrospective collection of memorial essays. One of the best assessments on the literary career and ideas of Susan Sontag. The First Hardcover Edition. Should not be confused with the Softcover Edition, which was published simultaneously with it. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original by a University Press. The production values are impeccable: Pristine-white archival stock paper, handsome brown cloth boards, invaluable Index, and other Gender and Culture titles appended at the end. Without DJ, as issued. Presents "The Scandal of Susan Sontag". Posthumous essays that collectively assess the achievement, legacy, and controversy that continue to surround Susan Sontag's "scandalous" career. The collection is valuable in the sense that all of the contributors are trying, in their own way, to continue Sontag's unfinished work, pointing to its unrealized possibilities. Almost twenty years after her untimely death, the most cursory glance at printed commentary on Susan Sontag shows just how passionately people still feel about her work, for or against or somewhere in-between, never indifferent. While she was a cultural icon in her lifetime, that enviable stature was always under relentless attack from critics and detractors that her excruciating final bout with cancer and subsequent death did nothing to soften, mellow, or dissipate. Sontag was a lot more nimble than her enemies (hence their frustration with her continuing relevance and their own "footnote" irrelevance). She always insisted on her right to keep an open mind, to change her mind, and therefore to never let anyone, not even herself, ever have The Last Word. If Harold Bloom was our sage, our educator-guide to life, on every page the voice of wisdom, Sontag was our intellectual, our provocative questioner about life, in every line the voice of a human being's evolving and ecstatic engagement with literature and the arts. She rejected the term, saw herself instead as the last, almost old-fashioned defender of High Classical values in our age of Pop mediocrity and shallowness, but in fact, it succinctly describes what she represents in American culture to this day: Postmodern - in the best sense of the word. An absolute "must-have" title for Susan Sontag collectors. This title is a great collection. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. Winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977 for "On Photography", the National Book Award in 2000 for "In America", and the Jerusalem Prize in 2001. Shimon Peres, in awarding the Jerusalem Prize, described Sontag as "one of the world's finest writers and greatest minds". One of the most influential and important writer-intellectuals of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SUSAN SONTAG TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0231149166. no.

Wrappers. Condition: Very Good. (Rhode Island). (Meridian Printing). (2005). 4to. 1 of 1500 copies. Light bumping to foot of spine and along lower edges of wrappers. Some rubbing to panels of dust jacket. Some water spots to front panel of d.j., causing some discoloration. VG/VG in wrappers. (Rhode Island). (Meridian Printing). (2005). 4to. 1 of 1500 copies. Light bumping to foot of spine and along lower edges of wrappers. Some rubbing to panels of dust jacket. Some water spots to front panel of d.j., causing some discoloration. VG/VG in wrappers.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. Signed. 247 pages. Published in 2009. Book-length account on subject. It is also, significantly, the inaugural volume of Princeton University's "Writers On Writers" Series. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only by a University Press. The First Edition is now scarce. The DJ Cover shows an iconic portrait of Susan Sontag by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Presents Phillip Lopate's "Notes On Sontag". A gem of a book that one will admire, agree, and inevitably argue with. It inaugurates the brilliant Series brilliantly: A well-known (living) writer is commissioned by Princeton University to write a concise book about another (dead) writer. The living writer is free to choose his or her subject and writing style: Criticism, memoir, biography, even "meta-fiction", or a mishmash of all of the above. Lopate chose to combine formal criticism with personal recollections of Susan Sontag, whom he knew well, but did not consider a friend or even a colleague. His title is, of course, a knowing allusion to Sontag's single most famous essay, "Notes On Camp", which established her as the "foremost interpreter of our contemporary moment". Lopate is admirably and genuinely humble in describing himself as a "mid-list" writer - he is much more than this - whereas he considers Sontag, who was in close proximity with him as a fellow New Yorker, a cultural phenomenon. "Phillip Lopate is so sensible that we can overlook just how smart and audacious he also is. In 'Notes On Sontag', he manages a dazzling, melancholy anatomy as Robert Burton would have understood the notion, and his interrogation of Sontag is all the more impressive and resonant because this is a self-interrogation, too. Shrewd, ardent, skeptical, canny" (Robert Polito). An absolute "must-have" title for Susan Sontag and Phillip Lopate collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed and inscribed in black ink-pen on the half-title page by the author: "To (recipient), my companion on the path. Affectionately, Phillip". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. The recipient, who is named, is self-evidently a close friend of the author, and cannot be named here. This title is a contemporary classic. This is the only such uniquely signed and inscribed copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant critics of our time on one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SUSAN SONTAG AND PHILLIP LOPATE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0691135703. Signed by Author.

Hardcover. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: As New. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. 168 pages. Published in 2013. Book-length transcript of the author's interview. One of the most valuable literary interview books ever published in our time. The First Hardcover Edition in its First-State DJ Cover, which shows Susan Sontag posing by her apartment's sun-lit window. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only by a University Press that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents "Susan Sontag: The Complete Rolling Stone Interview". Jonathan Cott's Interview with the author in its entirety. At the time of the Interview, Sontag was at the peak of her career, fame, and influence. She was also dying from cancer. The Interview shows her going non-stop and full blast on a breathtaking range of subjects, turning the predictable Q & A format into a full-fledged genre that is as riveting and well, as brilliant as her best essays. Sontag was a great talker, the writer-as-talker par excellence. Some of the things she talks about she had already written about, but with the very real possibility of death, felt she needed to clarify, modify, and expound upon further. More poignantly, she also talks about ideas and projects that she had thought about for some time and began working on, but felt she may never get around to doing or finishing. The inescapable sense one gets from the 150-page Interview is one of impatient restlessness, which is deeply rooted in her peripatetic childhood. Restlessness compelled her to think and re-think more than most writers ever needed to do. To the frustration of even her most loyal readers, she assumed, then abandoned, positions, which to her, were always provisional and open to change. Restlessness turned her life into one of perpetual flight: Flight from America to Europe; from Europe to America; from a male to a female lover; from a female to a male lover; from New York to London; from London to Paris; from Paris to New York; from essays to fiction; from fiction to essays; from film to theater; from theater to film; from one idea to another, one project to another, one passion to another, one cause to another, one commitment to another. Sontag lived for another twenty-five years (she died of Stage 4 leukemia, her third bout with cancer, in 2004), but unlike most writers with a significant body of work behind them, the sense is that her work will always remain unfinished. An absolute "must-have" title for Susan Sontag collectors. This title is a late-modern classic. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing/First-State DJ still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online are in subsequent printings or have serious flaws. The first print run was small, sold out shortly after publication, and had to be reissued right away. A scarce copy thus. Winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977 for "On Photography", the National Book Award in 2000 for "In America", and the Jerusalem Prize in 2001. Shimon Peres, in awarding the Jerusalem Prize, described Sontag as "one of the world's finest writers and greatest minds". One of the most influential and important writer-intellectuals of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SUSAN SONTAG TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0300189796. no.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: CHIPPED, FRAYED & PRICE CLIPP. 1st Edition. DJ, EDGES HAS SOME 1" + TEARS. IN THE BOOK , ANITA LOOS, EDITH SITWELL, FLANNERY O'CONNOR. ARTICLE BY CECIL BEATON ON MARILYN MONROE. JEAN COCTEAU, RICHARD AVEDON.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. 277 pages. Published in 2016. Book-length account on subject. One of the best books on aesthetics and criticism ever written in our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. Presents A. O. Scott's "Better Living Through Criticism: How To Think About Art, Pleasure, Beauty, And Truth". A worthy companion volume to Harold Bloom's classic, "How To Read And Why" (2000) about the immediate and lasting relevance of intellectual activity to a more productive and rewarding life, "aesthetics-as-ethics". A. O. Scott is best-known as the estimable film critic of the New York Times. This book demonstrates that his knowledge and expertise range farther and wider than film, and encompasses the entire artistic and philosophical tradition of Western culture. "Critical thinking informs almost every aspect of artistic creation, of civil action, of interpersonal life. With penetrating insight and warm humor, Scott shows that criticism as a discipline is one of the noblest, most creative, and urgent activities of existence. Drawing on the long tradition of criticism from Aristotle to Susan Sontag, Scott shows that real criticism was - and always will be - the breath of fresh air that allows true creativity to thrive" (Publisher's blurb). It is because we live in an illiterate, degraded, and degenerate Social Media Age that critical thinking is all-important, not just desirable: "The time for criticism is always now because the imperative to think clearly, to insist on the necessary balance of reason and passion, never goes away" (A. O. Scott). An absolute "must-have" title for A. O. Scott collectors. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: ALL copies available online are subsequent printings even if their dealers do not say so. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. One of the most brilliant critic/aestheticians of our time. A fine collectible copy. ISBN 1594204837. no.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. 1st Printing. Signed. 832 pages. Published in 2019. Definitive Biography. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. Orange "Signed Copy" sticker pasted in front. Presents Benjamin Moser's "Sontag: Her Life And Work". A fair-minded yet hard-hitting account on the greatest American writer-intellectual of our time. Moser recounts The Life of an insecure, arrogant, and cruel genius, who made life for everyone close to her a living hell. Although Moser never uses the word, Sontag could be monstrous; her relationship with Annie Leibovitz was pure sado-masochism (in the relational sense). Leibovitz supported Sontag to the tune of at least eight million dollars, giving her a $15000 weekly allowance, among other largesse-favors, a generosity that Sontag resented rather than felt grateful for: How can a hard-working, high-achieving writer like her make next to nothing compared to a crassly commercial - and in her view, minimally talented - photographer like Leibovitz? So she treated the latter as her inferior, as geniuses tend to do. But then, there is The Work, around which Moser weaves a dazzling "theme-and-variations" narrative-argument about "reality-versus-fantasy" and "aesthetics-as-ethics". His appraisal illuminates not just Sontag's body of work, but ALL of 20th-century literature, philosophy, and art. There is a reason why a Sontag essay was such an exciting event: She made us aware, in each instance, that the question, "What is the meaning of life", is the wrong one because it leads us to seek and "find" absolute answers, in God and religion, in The Great Leader and the omnipotent state, in theory, ideology, and "wisdom" that inevitably fail us. Instead, each of her greatest essays asks, "Why does everything matter - and nothing else?". In Sontag's case, "everything" is literature, the arts, and civilization itself as well as freedom, justice, the suffering, and the inalienable rights of others. An absolute "must-have" title for Susan Sontag and Benjamin Moser collectors. This Autographed Copy is very boldly and beautifully signed in blue pen-marker on the title page by Benjamin Moser. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great book. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws because the book is massive, unwieldy, and as such, impossible to transport in large quantities by the publisher without causing damage. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2020 for "Sontag: Her Life And Work". A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SUSAN SONTAG TITLES IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0062896393. Signed by Author.