On Photography

Susan Sontag

Apr 2011 · Sold by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

About this ebook

Winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award for Criticism.

One of the most highly regarded books of its kind, Susan Sontag's On Photography first appeared in 1977 and is described by its author as "a progress of essays about the meaning and career of photographs." It begins with the famous "In Plato's Cave"essay, then offers five other prose meditations on this topic, and concludes with a fascinating and far-reaching "Brief Anthology of Quotations."

Ratings and reviews

A few good points are made. A small number of interesting theories are broached. Nothing here that you cannot find elsewhere. I only ever opened this book to complete an essay, so I'll never get the bad taste of "schoolwork" out of my mouth when I think of the name Sontag.

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About the author

Susan Sontag was the author of four novels, including The Benefactor, Death Kit, The Volcano Lover, and In America, which won the 2000 National Book Award for fiction; a collection of stories, I, etcetera; several plays, including Alice in Bed; and nine works of essays, among then On Photography, which won the National Books Critics Circle Award for criticism. In 2001, Sontag was awarded the Jerusalem Prize for the body of her work. She died in New York City in 2004.