Susan Sontag: The Complete Rolling Stone Interview

Susan Sontag, one of the most internationally renowned and controversial intellectuals of the latter half of the twentieth century, still provokes. In 1979, Jonathan Cott, of Rolling Stone magazine, interviewed Sontag first in Paris and later in New York. This title publishes the entire transcript of Sontag's conversation. Published in its entirety for the first time, a candid conversation with Susan Sontag at the height of her brilliant career “A humanizing interview with the late cultural icon, who was often perceived as a fiercely aggressive and polarizing intellect.”—Kirkus Reviews Susan Sontag (1933–2004), one of the most internationally renowned and controversial intellectuals of the latter half of the twentieth century, still provokes. In 1978 Jonathan Cott, a founding contributing editor of Rolling Stone magazine, interviewed Sontag first in Paris and later in New York. Only a third of their twelve hours of discussion ever made it to print. This book provides the entire transcript of Sontag’s remarkable conversation, accompanied by Cott’s preface and recollections. Sontag’s musings and observations reveal the passionate engagement and breadth of her critical intelligence and curiosities at a moment when she was at the peak of her powers. These hours of conversation offer a revelatory and indispensable look at the self-described “besotted aesthete” and “obsessed moralist.”