Susan Sontag was more than just a writer. Her subject matter reached deeply into her life (she wrote about her struggle with breast cancer in the early Seventies) and the lives of others. A lifelong avid reader and writer, Sontag never liked to be labeled an "intellectual" - instead she preferred to be described as "a lover of books." To Sontag, books were a source of learning for anyone who chose to dive in. They were her escape from a lonely childhood. They opened the doors for her to leave high school early and study in prestigious universities like The University of Chicago and Harvard.
Experience became part of her learning as well. She taught philosophy at Sarah Lawrence and even published her first work in 1963 - "The Benefactor." Sontag wanted to be a novelist, but her experience proved to be her entry into the world of writers. In 1964's "Notes on Camp," the first essay that brought her fame and notoriety, Sontag gives us an examination of her personal life - taught like a philosophy lesson and a train of thought that would thread all her works together.
Most people think of sensibility or taste as the realm of purely subjective preferences, those mysterious attractions, mainly sensual, that have not been brought under the sovereignty of reason. They allow that considerations of taste play a part in their reactions to people and to works of art...For taste governs every free - as opposed to rote - human response.
This language that Sontag is constructing is the pursuit of a universal explanation of how we function. The lens of experience that she sees it through will include photography, AIDS, cancer, culture, the media, art, and her own personal "preferences." To write about these "sensual" attractions in 1964 was very rare in its time. In 1966's "Against Interpretation" and 1977's "On Photography," she takes this idea of things either being what they are not or being "represented" or "symbolic" perhaps without the author's consent and knowledge even further.
When looking at photographs in 2004's "Regarding The Pain of Others" (her last published book before her death that year), Sontag describes photos as having the power to influence your opinions based on your knowledge and reaction - and the captions beneath someone else trying to impose their opinion, or worse, influence yours. This state of "representation" in art seems to be a large part of what fueled Sontag. Her questions were not "What does the skull that reappears in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" represent?" Instead, it was "Why should it symbolize anything?" Furthermore, she concluded that in photography - "Everything has been photographed."
Sontag and her journalistic pursuit of knowledge were breaking down barriers. When Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against writer Salman Rushdie, Sontag lead the charge drafting other American writers to protest. She protested Communism in the early Eighties, and documented the beginnings of the AIDS crisis in 1986 in her book of essays "The Way We Live Now." However, she was never more of an activist than in Eastern Europe living in Sarajevo while they were under siege starting in 1992. Sontag helped gather supplies and even staged a performance of Beckett's "Waiting For Godot" by candlelight for those under siege a month into the conflict. Sarajevo would be a consistent source of passion and compassion for Sontag even into the 21st Century.
Finally, there is her fiction. Her dream was to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. As she wrote her four novels, she would commit to voluminous days of research even before writing - as if she needed it to develop her "character" as a writer. When she finally wrote, she could then add the necessary details to the story to make it historically correct. Her 2000 National Book Award winner "In America" is the tale of the famed Polish actress Helena Modjeska leaving her country for a fresh start in California circa 1876. In her prose, Sontag ties together the history with the story and makes it about our destiny as we reinvent ourselves. While it did arouse controversy (four reported incidents of plagiarism possibly from other books on Modjeska), the ongoing pursuit of the ideas of identity, representation and even a person masking the person they are by becoming someone else are prevalent.
Sontag maintained that "lots of people have talent - but the temperament is probably what keeps writers writing." Of course, she could have written more novels when she was younger - but her pursuit of ideas and personal devotion compelled her to write essays. As she stripped the "self-awareness" away from her writing, it became easier to write about her beliefs. On the other hand, Sontag referred to writing for Literature as "writing by will." Over her nearly 40 years of writing, Sontag was clearly in the pursuit of truth.
To quote Sontag (channeled through Oscar Wilde): "Anything you say about writing is true. Also, the opposite of anything you say about is true.
Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
New Music This Week
BAND OF HORSES - Things Are Great
[LP/CD](BMG Rights Mgmt)
One listen to the track "Lights," and it can be quickly discerned the optimistic title is sarcastic. Still, the South Carolina band knows its harmonies and its hooks. The tracks here are a little more Pop (the jangly "Crutch") and Seventies Rock ("In Need of Repair" follows that Fleetwood Mac chordal course) than the ethereal emotions conjured by the days of old. Nonetheless, as the band has aged they have improved their lyrics - which here carry that air of dissatisfaction we have all been breathing for the last two years.
MIKE CAMPBELL & THE DIRTY KNOBS - External Combustion
[LP/CD](BMG Rights Mgmt)
Former Tom Petty guitarist/producer Campbell gives his meat-and-potatoes Rock band a dose of "Full Moon Fever" on their second LP. Campbell gives his all. "Wicked Mind" works around his upper-register rasp and unleashes a great solo. While "Electric Gypsy" moves his Eighties-ish production into some mild Psychedelia. The lengthy outro with solos will definitely be their live highlight. Finally, the debut benefited from vocal/songwriting aid by Chris Stapleton. Lending fire to "Combustion" is Mott The Hoople's legendary Ian Hunter.
THE DIP - Sticking With It
[LP/CD](Dualtone)
Seattle's The Dip is a seven-piece New Soul band with bold brass and a hint of Blues. Tom Eddy is the soulful Paul Janeway-esque singer - although more of a crooner. They are at their best on "New Contender" as his voice mixes in beautifully with the horns and backup singers. The band really gelled on the instrumental EP last year ("The Dip Plays It Cool"), but "Sticking With It" slightly trades in their Daptone/Colemine sound for a Seventies Stax vibe ("Paddle To The Stars").
DOLLY PARTON - Run, Rose, Run
[LP/CD](Butterfly/Universal)
The legendary Parton and writer James Patterson collaborated on her first written novel "Run, Rose, Run." As always with Dolly and her projects, she follows her inspiration where it takes her. So the story needed a soundtrack. "Run, Rose, Run" the album is a companion to the tale with her classic Country and updated Bluegrass songs with the help of Joe Nichols and Rhonda Vincent. Parton (as Rose) plays a young songwriter on the run - doing whatever is necessary to survive. The book is being released Friday as well.
PINK FLOYD - Piper At The Gates of Dawn
[MONO LP](Pink Floyd)
After all these years (Piper in Mono was a Record Store Day 2018 release - but in such a limited pressing, that they disappeared almost instantly), the opening chapter in the history of Pink Floyd returns to wax. Released on August 5, 1967 during that Summer of Love/halcyon days of Swinging London. Pink Floyd gained traction as one of the first Psychedelic groups with shows at UFO and various underground clubs. Leader Syd Barrett was an electric force leading those brave enough to experience the light show and loud music on a journey. With two hit singles under their belt, "Piper" was recorded and released without incident. Then a month later, the long, sad mental breakdown of Barrett began. As they toured, Barrett's condition and behavior worsened. On the first US tour, their first TV appearances were sterile and tense as Barrett often gave one-word answers or just stared blankly away from interviewers. By December 1967, Pink Floyd was forced to add David Gilmour to the lineup to keep the whole machine in motion.
With the story, "Piper" today rings out like a moment of clarity. Barrett's songs vacillate from wide-eyed Lewis Carroll-like childhood intensity ("The Gnome") to dramatic. propulsive intense travel away from the Earth ("Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive" - two staples of any Psychedelic band). Producer Norman Smith had developed a sound for Pink Floyd where everything they recorded was part of the tableau. The Mono mix in 1967 was still the preferred version as all their whispering voices on "Pow. R. Toc. H." or the sinister organ on "Lucifer Sam" was there to lead you away from this being normal music per se. In hindsight, the central idea of "Piper" continues to be a listening experience from start to finish. As important as sound will be to later records, the idea of a song needing the right recording starts here. Waters' weird Pop on "Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk" hints at their menace and even the Space Rock that will follow in their path. Side two goes even farther away from expectations. Barrett's religious meditation "Chapter 24" allows him to duel over the I Ching with Richard Wright's Farfisa. "Scarecrow" follows along on this primrose path (with Barrett's signature lyrical phrasing) before "Bike" closes the album on a strange wistful yet chaotic note that could best sum up what it was like to be in Barrett's mind at the time. As essential as many of the other Pink Floyd albums are, they would be nothing without the lysergic gaze of Barrett. "Piper" makes his vision that of the rest of the band, who then continue its osmosis and refinement to encapsulate their own.
