Regarding the Pain of Others: Susan Sontag - Softcover

Sontag, Susan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141012374 ISBN 13: 9780141012377

Publisher: Penguin, 2004

Synopsis

Regarding the Pain of Others is Susan Sontag's searing analysis of our numbed response to images of horror. From Goya's Disasters of War to news footage and photographs of the conflicts in Vietnam, Rwanda and Bosnia, pictures have been charged with inspiring dissent, fostering violence or instilling apathy in us, the viewer. Regarding the Pain of Others will alter our thinking not only about the uses and meanings of images, but about the nature of war, the limits of sympathy, and the obligations of conscience. 'Powerful, fascinating. Sontag is our outstanding contemporary writer in the moralist tradition' Sunday Times 'A coruscating sermon on how we picture suffering' The New York Times 'A far-reaching set of ruminations on human suffering, the nature of goodness, the lures, deceptions and truth of images ...in short, a summary of what it means to be alive and alert in the twentieth century' Independent 'Sontag is on top form: firing devastating questions' Los Angeles Times 'Simple, elegant, fiercely persuasive' Metro One of America's best-known and most admired writers, Susan Sontag was also a leading commentator on contemporary culture until her death in December 2004. Her books include four novels and numerous works of non-fiction, among them Regarding the Pain of Others, On Photography, Illness as Metaphor, At the Same Time, Against Interpretation and Other Essays and Reborn: Early Diaries 1947-1963, all of which are published by Penguin. A further eight books, including the collections of essays Under the Sign of Saturn and Where the Stress Falls, and the novels The Volcano Lover and The Benefactor, are available from Penguin Modern Classics.

About this title

Product Description:

Regarding the Pain of Others

Review:

"Wise and somber. . .Sontag's closing words acknowledge that there are realities which no picture can convey." --"Los Angeles Times Book Review" "The history of sensibility in a culture shaped by the mechanical reproduction of imagery....has always been one of the guiding preoccupations of her best work, from "Against Interpretation" to "The Volcano Lover."...Regarding the Pain of Others invites, and rewards, more than one reading." --"Newsday" "For 30 years, Susan Sontag has been challenging an entire generation to think about the things that frighten us most: war, disease, death. Her books illuminate without simplifying, complicate without obfuscating, and insist above all that to ignore what threatens us is both irresponsible and dangerous." --"O, The Oprah Magazine" "A timely meditation on politics and ethics. . .extraordinary . . .Sontag's insight and erudition are profound." --"The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" ""Regarding the Pain of Others" bristles with a sense

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0141012374
• ISBN 13: 9780141012377
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128