Product Description

First published in 1973, this is a study of the force of photographic images which are continually inserted between experience and reality. Sontag develops further the concept of 'transparency'. When anything can be photographed and photography has destroyed the boundaries and definitions of art, a viewer can approach a photograph freely with no expectations of discovering what it means. This collection of six lucid and invigorating essays, the most famous being "In Plato's Cave," make up a deep exploration of how the image has affected society.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12791 in Books
• Published on: 1979-09-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Susan Sontag is one of America's best-known and most admired writers. Her critical essays have established her as one of the leading commentators on contemporary culture. She is the author of several work of fiction and her non-fiction includes ILLNESS AS METAPHOR (Penguin Modern Classics). She has also written and directed four feature films and stages plays in the US and Europe.

Customer Reviews

Makes you think about photography in completely new ways
I'm in my first year of a photography degree and this is one of the recommended texts. Despite being released in the 70's it's still very relevant.

The book is essentially a series of essays by Sontag. It's value is that Sontag knows her subject extremely well and, with reference to the great photographers, has constructed her essays in a way that really make you contemplate what photography is all about. Sontag was not a photographer herself so it's not a book of technique; it's about the interpretation and appreciation of other's work. If you're new to photographic theory as I was/am it may very well make you feel quite ignorant, as if you don't even know what a photograph really is any more. However, that's the point; to make you think. This most ubiquitous medium is now so common its almost unnoticed but the book gets under the skin of what photography is and why photographs are so appealing. It's not the easiest or lightest reading but conversely the essays are not over long.

If you're studying photography or art or are simply interested in more philosophical views on the subject I'd highly recommend this to open up new ways of thinking.

The best source for photographic theory
This is an exceptional book and one that is best read by flicking through and reading litery snap shots of Sontags work. If you are about to do a photography course this is the book for you and if you have ever wondered about photography this book will inform you. I read two short quotes from this book to my father in law who has no real connection with photography, he walked away and said 'i thought a photograph was just a photograph" and asked if he could borrow the book... Thats how good it is....

A Brilliant Work of Cultural Criticism
This is just a fantastic book. It is packed full of genuinely insightful material through which the reader is driven with a prose style that is clear, unprentious and energetic - often rhapsodic.

Although the book has some content that is of particular interest to those living or interested in the United States, there is plenty that would appeal to any reader interested in photography generally and as a cultural phenomenon. Consider the following:

"Most tourists feel compelled to put a camera between themselves and whatever is remarkable they encounter. Unsure of their resonses they take a picture. This gives shape to the experience: stop, take a photo and move on. The method especially appeals to people handicapped by a ruthless work ethic - Germans, Japanese and Americans. Using a camera appeases the anxiety which the work-driven feel about not working ... "