Presents excerpts from the early writings of the author, with reflections on her meetings with influential writers and intellectuals, her literary ambitions, and her criticisms of other writers.
The first of three volumes of Susan Sontag's journals and notebooks, this book presents a constantly surprising record of a great mind in incubation. It begins with journal entries and early attempts at fiction from her years as a university and graduate student, and ends in 1963, when she was becoming a participant in and observer of the artistic and intellectual life of New York City.
Reborn is a kaleidoscopic self-portrait of one of America's greatest writers and thinkers, teeming with Sontag's voracious curiosity and appetite for life. We watch the young Sontag's complex self-awareness, share in her encounters with the writers who informed her thinking, and engage with the profound challenge of writing itself - all filtered through the inimitable detail of everyday circumstance.
"I intend to do everything...to have one way of evaluating experiencedoes it cause me pleasure or pain, and I shall be very cautious about rejecting the painfulI shall anticipate pleasure everywhere and find it too, for it is everywhere! I shall involve myself wholly...everything matters!"
So wrote Susan Sontag in May 1949 at the age of sixteen. This, the first of three volumes of her journals and notebooks, presents a constantly and utterly surprising record of a great mind in incubation. It begins with journal entries and early attempts at fiction from her years as a university and graduate student, and ends in 1964, when she was becoming a participant in and observer of the artistic and intellectual life of New York City.
Reborn is a kaleidoscopic self-portrait of one of Americas greatest writers and intellectuals, teeming with Sontags voracious curiosity and appetite for life. We watch the young Sontags complex self-awareness, share in her encounters with the writers who informed her thinking, and engage with the profound challenge of writing itselfall filtered through the inimitable detail of everyday circumstance.
