EPISODE · Sep 11, 2019 · 23 MIN
Susan Sontag: “This God-Damned Celebrity Culture”
from Writers Off the Page: From the TIFA Archives · host Toronto Public Library
Books by Susan Sontag:Illness as Metaphor/AIDS and Its MetaphorsIn America: A NovelFascinating Fascism: Susan Sontag on Leni Riefenstahl (The New York Review of Books)Notes on "Camp"Books about Susan Sontag:Sontag: Her Life and Work by Benjamin MoserAbout 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 One: “This God-Damned Celebrity Culture” The first of four parts, Evan Solomon talks to Sontag about the cult of personality surrounding authors and their work and why she prefers writing novels over writing essays, despite being associated with some of the best and more provocative essays written in the 20th century.
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Susan Sontag: “This God-Damned Celebrity Culture”
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