NY Observer > Susan Sontag http://www.observer.com/taxonomy/term/28324/feed Articles from Observer.com en Rieff’s Grief: Sontag’s Son, On Her Death http://www.observer.com/2008/rieff-s-grief-sontag-s-son-her-death

There’s something obscene about sitting at a desk, in a chair that corrects the posture, sipping warm, sugary tea, yawning or scratching, barely aware of the fug of felt life, all the while getting ready to give the thumbs-up or thumbs-down to a book that records a mother’s desperate losing battle against disease and her son’s numb grief when she dies. I am in the realm of the living, foolishly taking it for granted as most of us do; David Rieff has been immersed in death ever since the day nearly four years ago when his mother, Susan Sontag, was diagnosed with a rare, particularly lethal cancer of the blood. Who am I to pass judgment on her mortal struggle, on his howl of pain?  read more »

]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/rieff-s-grief-sontag-s-son-her-death#comments Arts & Culture Philip Rieff Susan Sontag Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:15:43 -0500 Adam Begley 63045 at http://www.observer.com Regarding the Writing of Others http://www.observer.com/2007/regarding-writing-others

In FSG’s posthumous collection of essays by Susan Sontag, an alert reader finds unattributed borrowings from Roland Barthes, Laura Miller.  read more »

]]> http://www.observer.com/2007/regarding-writing-others#comments Media Susan Sontag Tue, 08 May 2007 21:00:38 -0400 Michael Calderone 53956 at http://www.observer.com Why We Miss Susan Sontag, Volume I http://www.observer.com/node/36777 At first glance, the cover of Susan Sontag’s final book—the  almost-complete manusc  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/36777#comments Arts & Culture Aristophanes Germany Los Angeles Times Susan Sontag Sun, 25 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500 Regina Marler 36777 at http://www.observer.com The Emotional Spark: What’s That Thing We All Long For? http://www.observer.com/node/36508 Through the glass door at the W Hotel Bar in Union Square, I saw him: the screenwriter from L.A.  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/36508#comments Style Edmund Wilson Susan Sontag Sun, 07 Jan 2007 19:00:00 -0500 Maura Kelly 36508 at http://www.observer.com Annie Leibovitz, Having Seen http://www.observer.com/node/32551 Annie Leibovitz, the grand dame of Vogue, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone covers, was the one facing flashbulbs. The other morning she gave a private press tour of her new show at the Brooklyn Museum.

"Walk slowly. Watch your cameras," she said. Microphone booms swung through the air, nearly knocking the photos off the wall. "Careful, we have lots of time," she said as she was followed.

Ms. Leibovitz has recently been profiled in Newsweek, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. She has a new book, "Annie Leibovitz: A Photographers Life, 1990-2005," and a retrospective of her work that will travel the world.

"It was time to look back at my work," Ms. Leibovitz said. She wore a faded black button-up shirt, tapered black jeans, and heavy work boots. "It was like being on an archeological dig finding these pictures," she said.

One entire wall was snapshots of her family at the beach, her parents in bed, her children wet with afterbirth in the delivery room, and hotel rooms with rumpled bed sheets, Susan Sontag included.

On another wall Donald Trump sat in a sports car and a hugely pregnant Ivana sported a gold lame bikini on the stairs of a gigantic jet. A portrait of Colin Powell in full military regalia hung near the Clintons on election night.

Ms. Leibovitz said the idea for the exhibit "came out of a moment," when she faced the deaths of Sontag and her father, plus the birth of her twins, by a surrogate mother.

On one wall Sontag battles cancer in a hospital bed, another shows her being wheeled on a gurney to a private plane in Seattle to be air-evacuated to a hospital in New York. A small print in a corner shows Sontag's corpse at a funeral home. She is dressed in Italian silk.

In "On Photography," Sontag had written: "To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them they can never have.""

With every photo, regardless of the narrative, it's clear that sometimes Ms. Leibovitz was an intruder in her own life. The exhibit, which gives such a remarkable window into Ms. Leibovitz's private world, also shows the limits of that view.

Ms. Leibovitz said that she enjoys how her magazine assignments create a sense of history, but that her personal work is her strongest work, in fact because she is know to her subjects.

"Most people don't like to have their picture taken," Ms. Leibovitz said. "They have to confront themselves." Every photo involves problem solving. "It's never easy."

And with that, Ms. Leibovitz left the room, accompanied by two women in black suits. "I mean, you wouldn't expect anything less," said a reporter, who wore a sticker that read Panarama. "She's a living legend." — Kaija Helmetag]]> http://www.observer.com/node/32551#comments Style Annie Leibovitz Newsweek Inc. Susan Sontag Vanity Fair Magazine Sun, 29 Oct 2006 18:21:34 -0500 Observer Staff 32551 at http://www.observer.com Thursday: The Old Sontag Penthouse, The Old 'New Soho', and a Wall Street Journal Rip-Off http://www.observer.com/node/35084
soho2.JPG
Soho! Just kidding.
  • Weeks ago we mathematically disproved the assertion that "The Garment District is the new Soho," though the Post apparently plugged its ears. So what does its cover story report to back up the age-old Garment claim? Only that the the neighborhood has "funky artists"--plus: it's "gritty and delicious." (NY Post)
  • For $3.75 million, the late Susan Sontag's penthouse at Chelsea's London Terrace could have been yours. (You would have had to act quickly, though: it stayed on the market for just a few weeks.) And alas you've also missed a chance at grabbing Britney Spears' four-level Silk Building abode (though that's old news). (WSJ)
  • Who had any idea that ritzy--and empty--Manhattan condo buildings were dangling gold-plated carrots to lure naive buyers? Those carrots come in shapes and sizes like Turkish baths (cough!--excuse me, sir) or borrowing libraries (lame.) Best of all: pandering to the lazy or gourmet or morbidly obese condo crowd are daily home-delivered meals at Slate on West 18th. (NY Sun)
  • It's about seventeen years too late to print a headline like: "The fight over Atlantic Yards heats up." And yet all journalistic sins are excused when a Yards article has Bruce Ratner quotes such as "It's a good cause, and we are going to win." Or any Bruce Ratner quotes at all. (NY Press)
  • What does 'Where were you when it happened?' mean? It means that it's been five years since the World Trade Center attacks, and that the WTC Foundation still needs $167 million for its museum and memorial. So of course the group is rolling out an ad campaign "designed to tug on people's heartstrings." And wallets. (Crain's)
    • - Max Abelson]]> http://www.observer.com/node/35084#comments Real Estate Atlantic Yards Bruce Ratner Manhattan Susan Sontag Thu, 31 Aug 2006 04:30:00 -0400 Observer Staff 35084 at http://www.observer.com Ozick’s Ongoing Argument, A Dip in the Rollercoaster http://www.observer.com/node/39031 This collection of 20 recent essays by Cynthia Ozick begins with a memorial appreciation of Susan So  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/39031#comments Arts & Culture Cynthia Ozick Joan of Arc John Updike Susan Sontag Sun, 25 Jun 2006 20:00:00 -0400 Anna Shapiro 39031 at http://www.observer.com Ozick's Ongoing Argument, A Dip in the Rollercoaster http://www.observer.com/node/52365 This collection of 20 recent essays by Cynthia Ozick begins with a memorial appreciation of Susan So  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/52365#comments Arts & Culture Anna Shapiros Cynthia Ozick Susan Sontag The New York Times Company Sun, 25 Jun 2006 20:00:00 -0400 Anna Shapiro 52365 at http://www.observer.com Abuse Me! I Like It! The Weirdness of Hiring A Personal Organizer http://www.observer.com/node/38331 “If you use anything except an ashtray to put your cigarette out in, I’ll come over ther  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/38331#comments Style eBay Inc. Mary Poppins Murray Hill Susan Sontag Sun, 05 Feb 2006 19:00:00 -0500 Choire Sicha 38331 at http://www.observer.com Rieff Encounter http://www.observer.com/node/50746 "I think I'm American in all sorts of essential ways," said the 52-year-old war journalist David Rie  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/50746#comments Media Bosnia and Herzegovina Christopher Hitchens Philip Rieff Susan Sontag Sun, 01 May 2005 20:00:00 -0400 Suzy Hansen 50746 at http://www.observer.com