EPISODE · Sep 26, 2019 · 19 MIN
Susan Sontag: “The Little Illness Book”
from Writers Off the Page: From the TIFA Archives · host Toronto Public Library
Books by Susan SontagThe BenefactorIllness as Metaphor/AIDS and Its MetaphorsFrom America Books about Susan SontagSontag: Her Life and Work by Benjamin Moser Other Books or Materials MentionedGreat Expectations by Charles DickensFilm: David Lean’s 1946 version of Great Expectations (Criterion Collection)The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov About the Host:Novelist Randy Boyagoda is a professor of English at the University of Toronto and principal of St. Michael’s College, where he holds the Basilian Chair in Christianity, Arts, and Letters. He is the author of three novels: Original Prin, Beggar's Feast, and Governor of the Northern Province. His fiction has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize (2006) and IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize (2012), and named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Selection (2012 and 2019) and Globe and Mail Best Book (2018). He contributes essays, reviews, and opinions to publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, First Things, Commonweal, Harper’s, Financial Times (UK), Guardian, New Statesman, Globe and Mail, and National Post, in addition to appearing frequently on CBC Radio. He served as President of PEN Canada from 2015-2017. Music is by Yuka. This podcast series is produced by Toronto Public Library, in collaboration with TIFA (Toronto International Festival of Authors) and Library and Archives Canada.
What this episode covers
Writers Off the Page: Susan Sontag - Part Two: "The Little Illness Book" The second of four parts, Evan Solomon talks to Sontag about how having breast cancer in 1975 led her to write Illness as Metaphor (which she was told would be her last book) - and then later, AIDS and Its Metaphors - and how re-reading her favourite books is such a pleasurable experience.
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Susan Sontag: “The Little Illness Book”
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