Overview

A Financial Times Best Book of 2012 From the turbulent years of her trip to Hanoi at the peak of the Vietnam War to her time making films in Sweden and up to the eve of the 1980 election, As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh documents the evolution of an extraordinary mind. The 1966 publication of Against Interpretation propelled Susan Sontag from the periphery of New York City's artistic and intellectual milieu into the international spotlight, solidifying her place as a dominant force in the world of ideas. These entries are an invaluable record of the inner workings of one of the most inquisitive and analytical thinkers of the twentieth century.

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9781250024121

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Reviews

These journals present the opportunity to delve deeply into the soul of Susan Sontag....Magnificent. --Nancy D. Kates, San Francisco Chronicle If Reborn is Sontag's precocious coming-to, this sequel finds her there, a somebody....She fills her journals with flinty thoughts....It's impossible to read these journals and not experience the warmer side of her ambition: her deep admiration for certain artists around her, her animating wish to encourage and promote. --Emily Greenhouse, The New Yorker A little like her criticism, her diary entries combine her interests with bright, aphoristic turns of phrase....These diaries are a reminder of the value of the work that made her great, and also mysterious---partly (and forever)---escaping from view. --The Economist These journals present the opportunity to delve deeply into the soul of Susan Sontag .Magnificent. Nancy D. Kates, San Francisco Chronicle If Reborn is Sontag's precocious coming-to, this sequel finds her there, a somebody .She fills her journals with flinty thoughts .It's impossible to read these journals and not experience the warmer side of her ambition: her deep admiration for certain artists around her, her animating wish to encourage and promote. Emily Greenhouse, The New Yorker A little like her criticism, her diary entries combine her interests with bright, aphoristic turns of phrase....These diaries are a reminder of the value of the work that made her great, and also mysterious---partly (and forever)---escaping from view. The Economist These journals present the opportunity to delve deeply into the soul of Susan Sontag....Magnificent. --Nancy D. Kates, San Francisco Chronicle If Reborn is Sontag's precocious coming-to, this sequel finds her there, a somebody....She fills her journals with flinty thoughts....It's impossible to read these journals and not experience the warmer side of her ambition: her deep admiration for certain artists around her, her animating wish to encourage and promote. --Emily Greenhouse, The New Yorker A little like her criticism, her diary entries combine her interests with bright, aphoristic turns of phrase....These diaries are a reminder of the value of the work that made her great, and also mysterious---partly (and forever)---escaping from view. -- The Economist Praise for Susan Sontag: What ultimately matters about Sontag . . . is what she has defended: the life of the mind, and the necessity for reading and writing as 'a way of being fully human.' --Hilary Mantel, Los Angeles Times Book Review Praise for As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh Sontag's essays are arch, intransigent--so it is a rare pleasure to read, in her diary, discoveries being made in real time. She applies her mind to itself with enthusiasm . . . The overall portrait gained from these journals seems to be of an impossibly fractured author--but the diaries also remind us that Sontag the writer and Sontag the woman, inevitably, occupy the same territory, so that even when she is writing about culture, she is, in a sense, exploring herself . . [a] difficult, fascinating volume . . . As her diaries reveal with such intensity, she harnessed only a fraction of her mind to produce the writing we have seen until now; the rest is consciousness. --Emily Stokes, The Guardian In the three years since Reborn, the first volume of Susan Sontag's journals and notebooks, was published, at least three more books about the literary titan have appeared . . . [but] nothing compares with going to the source directly. The second of three volumes, As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh, spans the years of Sontag's most prodigious output and her greatest intellectual influence, including the 1966 publication of her first volume of essays, the landmark Against Interpretation, and the equally influential Illness as Metaphor, a 1978 treatise inspired by her first bout with breast cancer. --Melissa Anderson, Newsday A powerful self-portrait gradually emerges. Sontag avoided personal writing, as Rieff explains; perhaps, he suggests, the diaries constitute 'the great autobiographical novel she never cared to write' . . . the reader warms more to her through her sudden lists of appealing adjectives ('besotted, cerulean, ogival') o Praise for Susan Sontag: What ultimately matters about Sontag . . . is what she has defended: the life of the mind, and the necessity for reading and writing as 'a way of being fully human.' --Hilary Mantel, Los Angeles Times Book Review Praise for As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh Sontag's essays are arch, intransigent--so it is a rare pleasure to read, in her diary, discoveries being made in real time. She applies her mind to itself with enthusiasm . . . The overall portrait gained from these journals seems to be of an impossibly fractured author--but the diaries also remind us that Sontag the writer and Sontag the woman, inevitably, occupy the same territory, so that even when she is writing about culture, she is, in a sense, exploring herself . . [a] difficult, fascinating volume . . . As her diaries reveal with such intensity, she harnessed only a fraction of her mind to produce the writing we have seen until now; the rest is consciousness. --Emily Stokes, The Guardian In the three years since Reborn , the first volume of Susan Sontag's journals and notebooks, was published, at least three more books about the literary titan have appeared . . . [but] nothing compares with going to the source directly. The second of three volumes, As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh , spans the years of Sontag's most prodigious output and her greatest intellectual influence, including the 1966 publication of her first volume of essays, the landmark Against Interpretation , and the equally influential Illness as Metaphor , a 1978 treatise inspired by her first bout with breast cancer. --Melissa Anderson, Newsday

These journals present the opportunity to delve deeply into the soul of Susan Sontag....Magnificent. --Nancy D. Kates, San Francisco Chronicle If Reborn is Sontag's precocious coming-to, this sequel finds her there, a somebody....She fills her journals with flinty thoughts....It's impossible to read these journals and not experience the warmer side of her ambition: her deep admiration for certain artists around her, her animating wish to encourage and promote. --Emily Greenhouse, The New Yorker A little like her criticism, her diary entries combine her interests with bright, aphoristic turns of phrase....These diaries are a reminder of the value of the work that made her great, and also mysterious---partly (and forever)---escaping from view. -- The Economist

These journals present the opportunity to delve deeply into the soul of Susan Sontag....Magnificent. ---Nancy D. Kates, San Francisco Chronicle <p> If Reborn is Sontag's precocious coming-to, this sequel finds her there, a somebody....She fills her journals with flinty thoughts....It's impossible to read these journals and not experience the warmer side of her ambition: her deep admiration for certain artists around her, her animating wish to encourage and promote. ---Emily Greenhouse, The New Yorker <p> A little like her criticism, her diary entries combine her interests with bright, aphoristic turns of phrase....These diaries are a reminder of the value of the work that made her great, and also mysterious---partly (and forever)---escaping from view. --- The Economist<br>

<p>Praise for Susan Sontag: <br> What ultimately matters about Sontag . . . is what she has defended: the life of the mind, and the necessity for reading and writing as 'a way of being fully human.' --Hilary Mantel, Los Angeles Times Book Review <p>Praise for As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh <p> Sontag's essays are arch, intransigent--so it is a rare pleasure to read, in her diary, discoveries being made in real time. She applies her mind to itself with enthusiasm . . . The overall portrait gained from these journals seems to be of an impossibly fractured author--but the diaries also remind us that Sontag the writer and Sontag the woman, inevitably, occupy the same territory, so that even when she is writing about culture, she is, in a sense, exploring herself . . [a] difficult, fascinating volume . . . As her diaries reveal with such intensity, she harnessed only a fraction of her mind to produce the writing we have seen until now; the rest is consciousness. --Emily Stokes, The Guardian <p> In the three years since Reborn, the first volume of Susan Sontag's journals and notebooks, was published, at least three more books about the literary titan have appeared . . . [but] nothing compares with going to the source directly. The second of three volumes, As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh, spans the years of Sontag's most prodigious output and her greatest intellectual influence, including the 1966 publication of her first volume of essays, the landmark Against Interpretation, and the equally influential Illness as Metaphor, a 1978 treatise inspired by her first bout with breast cancer. --Melissa Anderson, Newsday <p> A powerful self-portrait gradually emerges. Sontag avoided personal writing, as Rieff explains; perhaps, he suggests, the diaries constitute 'the great autobiographical novel she never cared to write' . . . the reader warms more to her through her sudden lists of appealing adjectives ('besotted, cerulean, ogival') o

These journals present the opportunity to delve deeply into the soul of Susan Sontag....Magnificent. --Nancy D. Kates, San Francisco Chronicle If Reborn is Sontag's precocious coming-to, this sequel finds her there, a somebody....She fills her journals with flinty thoughts....It's impossible to read these journals and not experience the warmer side of her ambition: her deep admiration for certain artists around her, her animating wish to encourage and promote. --Emily Greenhouse, The New Yorker A little like her criticism, her diary entries combine her interests with bright, aphoristic turns of phrase....These diaries are a reminder of the value of the work that made her great, and also mysterious---partly (and forever)---escaping from view. --The Economist

These journals present the opportunity to delve deeply into the soul of Susan Sontag....Magnificent. --Nancy D. Kates, San Francisco Chronicle If Reborn is Sontag's precocious coming-to, this sequel finds her there, a somebody....She fills her journals with flinty thoughts....It's impossible to read these journals and not experience the warmer side of her ambition: her deep admiration for certain artists around her, her animating wish to encourage and promote. --Emily Greenhouse, The New Yorker A little like her criticism, her diary entries combine her interests with bright, aphoristic turns of phrase....These diaries are a reminder of the value of the work that made her great, and also mysterious---partly (and forever)---escaping from view. --The Economist These journals present the opportunity to delve deeply into the soul of Susan Sontag .Magnificent. Nancy D. Kates, San Francisco Chronicle If Reborn is Sontag's precocious coming-to, this sequel finds her there, a somebody .She fills her journals with flinty thoughts .It's impossible to read these journals and not experience the warmer side of her ambition: her deep admiration for certain artists around her, her animating wish to encourage and promote. Emily Greenhouse, The New Yorker A little like her criticism, her diary entries combine her interests with bright, aphoristic turns of phrase....These diaries are a reminder of the value of the work that made her great, and also mysterious---partly (and forever)---escaping from view. The Economist These journals present the opportunity to delve deeply into the soul of Susan Sontag....Magnificent. --Nancy D. Kates, San Francisco Chronicle If Reborn is Sontag's precocious coming-to, this sequel finds her there, a somebody....She fills her journals with flinty thoughts....It's impossible to read these journals and not experience the warmer side of her ambition: her deep admiration for certain artists around her, her animating wish to encourage and promote. --Emily Greenhouse, The New Yorker A little like her criticism, her diary entries combine her interests with bright, aphoristic turns of phrase....These diaries are a reminder of the value of the work that made her great, and also mysterious---partly (and forever)---escaping from view. -- The Economist Praise for Susan Sontag: What ultimately matters about Sontag . . . is what she has defended: the life of the mind, and the necessity for reading and writing as 'a way of being fully human.' --Hilary Mantel, Los Angeles Times Book Review Praise for As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh Sontag's essays are arch, intransigent--so it is a rare pleasure to read, in her diary, discoveries being made in real time. She applies her mind to itself with enthusiasm . . . The overall portrait gained from these journals seems to be of an impossibly fractured author--but the diaries also remind us that Sontag the writer and Sontag the woman, inevitably, occupy the same territory, so that even when she is writing about culture, she is, in a sense, exploring herself . . [a] difficult, fascinating volume . . . As her diaries reveal with such intensity, she harnessed only a fraction of her mind to produce the writing we have seen until now; the rest is consciousness. --Emily Stokes, The Guardian In the three years since Reborn, the first volume of Susan Sontag's journals and notebooks, was published, at least three more books about the literary titan have appeared . . . [but] nothing compares with going to the source directly. The second of three volumes, As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh, spans the years of Sontag's most prodigious output and her greatest intellectual influence, including the 1966 publication of her first volume of essays, the landmark Against Interpretation, and the equally influential Illness as Metaphor, a 1978 treatise inspired by her first bout with breast cancer. --Melissa Anderson, Newsday A powerful self-portrait gradually emerges. Sontag avoided personal writing, as Rieff explains; perhaps, he suggests, the diaries constitute 'the great autobiographical novel she never cared to write' . . . the reader warms more to her through her sudden lists of appealing adjectives ('besotted, cerulean, ogival') o Praise for Susan Sontag: What ultimately matters about Sontag . . . is what she has defended: the life of the mind, and the necessity for reading and writing as 'a way of being fully human.' --Hilary Mantel, Los Angeles Times Book Review Praise for As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh Sontag's essays are arch, intransigent--so it is a rare pleasure to read, in her diary, discoveries being made in real time. She applies her mind to itself with enthusiasm . . . The overall portrait gained from these journals seems to be of an impossibly fractured author--but the diaries also remind us that Sontag the writer and Sontag the woman, inevitably, occupy the same territory, so that even when she is writing about culture, she is, in a sense, exploring herself . . [a] difficult, fascinating volume . . . As her diaries reveal with such intensity, she harnessed only a fraction of her mind to produce the writing we have seen until now; the rest is consciousness. --Emily Stokes, The Guardian In the three years since Reborn , the first volume of Susan Sontag's journals and notebooks, was published, at least three more books about the literary titan have appeared . . . [but] nothing compares with going to the source directly. The second of three volumes, As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh , spans the years of Sontag's most prodigious output and her greatest intellectual influence, including the 1966 publication of her first volume of essays, the landmark Against Interpretation , and the equally influential Illness as Metaphor , a 1978 treatise inspired by her first bout with breast cancer. --Melissa Anderson, Newsday

Author Information

Susan Sontag (1933-2004) was the author of numerous works of non-fiction, including the groundbreaking collection of essays Against Interpretation (FSG, 1966), and of four novels, including In America (FSG, 2000), which won the National Book Award.

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