Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A pithy and brilliant introduction to Susan Sontag's feminism, gathering early essays on aging, equality, beauty, sexuality, and fascism
Susan Sontag is widely regarded as one of the most formidable, original, and influential thinkers of the last century. "The most interesting ideas, after all, are heresies," she remarked, and indeed, her writing reaches beyond the familiar, eschewing convention and refusing party lines. She is also remembered as a fierce advocate for women--but what did she actually think of the feminist movement?
On Women presents seven essays and exchanges, spanning a range of subjects: the particular challenges and humiliations women face as they grow older; the relationship between women's liberation and class struggle; beauty, which Sontag calls "that over-rich brew of so many familiar opposites"; feminism, fascism, and film. Taken together, these pieces illustrate Sontag's approach to the art and politics of being a woman--relentlessly curious, historically precise, politically robust, allergic to easy categorization, and fiercely complicated.