This philistinism of interpretation is more rife in literature than in any other art. For decades now, literary critics have understood it to be their task to translate the elements of the poem or play or novel or story into something else. Sometimes a writer will be so uneasy before the naked power of his art that he will install within the work itself - albeit with a little shyness, a touch of the good taste of irony - the clear and explicit interpretation of it. Thomas Mann is an example of such an overcooperative author. In the case of more stubborn authors, the critic is only too happy to perform the job. Susan Sontag
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson
We cannot have a world where everyone is a victim. "I'm this way because my father made me this way. I'm this way because my husband made me this way." Yes, we are indeed formed by traumas that happen to us. But then you must...
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Camille Paglia
I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free.
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Georgia OKeeffe
The motive behind criticism often determines its validity. Those who care criticize where necessary. Those who envy criticize the moment they think that they have found a weak spot.
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Criss Jami
The covers of this book are too far apart.
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Ambrose Bierce
More Quotes By Susan Sontag
The truth is always something that is told, not something that is known. If there were no speaking or writing, there would be no truth about anything. There would only be what is.
That's the source of the meditation on death I've carried in my heart all my life.
A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world.", Frankfurt Book Fair, October 12, 2003]
The writer is either a practicing recluse or a delinquent, guilt-ridden one--or both. Usually both.
