Talk:Susan Sontag

Early life
″Sontag lived on Long Island, New York,[1] then in Tucson, Arizona, and later in the San Fernando Valley in southern California..."

I'm reading Benjamin Moser's (authorized) biography of Sontag, and here's where he says she lived:


 * January 1933--summer 1933 Manhattan, NY
 * 1933--1936 Huntington, Long Island, NY
 * 1936--1939 Great Neck, Long Island, NY
 * 1939 Verona, New Jersey
 * 1939-1940 Miami Beach, Florida
 * 1940 Woodmere, Long Island, NY ("temporarily")
 * 1941-1942 Forest Hills, Queens, NY("where she spent fifth & sixth grade at PS 144")
 * 1943-1946 Tuscon, Arizona (address: 2409 East Drachman Street)
 * 1946-until college Sherman Oaks, California (address: 4540 Longridge Avenue)

As you can see, it's quite a few more places than the article mentions. I'm not sure how this would be incorporated, but I can't edit the page anyway since it's protected. So I thought I'd leave a comment here. (It's chapters 2&3 in Moser's book.) Chris1564 (talk) 06:36, 24 September 2020 (UTC)


 * About that sentence's subordinate clause: "later in the San Fernando Valley in southern California, where she took refuge in books..." The refuge started sometime sooner than California, not sure when exactly. She was reading Goethe and the Modern Library in Tucson, and learned to read at age 3! --Chris1564 (talk) 06:55, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 15 January 2022
Grandchildren - 1 Plouve (talk) 09:04, 15 January 2022 (UTC)

Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Uberlyuber (talk) 20:19, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

occupation in the lead
Instead of this,

Susan Lee Sontag (/ˈsɒntæɡ/; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist.

I propose,

Susan Lee Sontag (/ˈsɒntæɡ/; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, critic, and public intellectual.

Although she did teach philosophy for a period, she quit that to pursue her creative and critical writing. Did she particularly identify with the profession, does anyone know? (I cannot get either the link or its archived version to load.) I think that she is much more commonly referred to as a critic than as a philosopher. As to "public intellectual" rather than "political activist", I just think this better captures the breadth of her political engagement, which seems from the article to mostly involve signing petitions and writing editorials, not the sort of protesting commonly associated with the term "activism"—although I would frame the question as being of which is more accurate, as both are supported by the article.

All thoughts welcome!

Cheers, Patrick J. Welsh (talk) 21:06, 23 September 2023 (UTC)

"Truly understand" language unencyclopedic?
I understand that this is (likely) reflecting Susan Sontag's writing on the topic: "Sontag also had a relationship with the writer Joseph Brodsky, who made her truly understand the anti-communism of the writers persecuted by the Soviet regime, whom she had read and in some cases even known, without really understanding them." But I have a feeling it sounds too unencyclopedic. To say someone truly understands a topic is almost like saying someone is 'liberated' - it is a very objective statement, with content that is nevertheless epistemologically inaccessible/unverifiable, and contains significant presumptions about what is possible. Should the wording be changed to reflect that this statement is from the voice of Sontag? Peace and Passion &#9774; ("I'm listening....") 01:35, 23 March 2024 (UTC)


 * Hi @Peace and Passion,
 * It's great practice to check in on the talk page before editing an article you haven't work on. With a minor edit like this, however, I would encourage you to consider WP:BOLDly make the change yourself being sure to leave a brief edit description. If anyone has an issue with it, they'll revert, and then you can come here to discuss. (See WP:CYCLE)..
 * I made an edit to address the issue you flagged, but feel free to tweak it/change it if you have something you like better.
 * Cheers, Patrick J. Welsh (talk) 20:17, 23 March 2024 (UTC)