Susan Sontag was a hugely influential writer and political activist. She was born in New York City in 1933, before experiencing a varied and well-travelled upbringing. During her childhood, she spent time in Arizona and California, where she initially attended university at Berkeley. However, she completed undergraduate studies at the University of Chicago. She then spent time studying in Harvard, Oxford and Paris. Throughout her education, she covered a vast range of subjects, such as history, literature and philosophy amidst many more.
She began her career writing fiction, where she is perhaps best known for her work ‘The Volcano Lover.’ She also produced a variety of short stories during this time, while she accomplished much in playwriting and filmmaking too.
However, it is probably for her essays that she is most well known, covering topics from the arts to cultural issues of the day. These were carried widely by newspapers and literary publications such as the New York Times and the New Yorker, where her strongly held ideals were often challenged and critiqued.
She is also highly regarded for her work as a political activist. She constantly campaigned for the freedom of literary expression. She rose to the position of president of the American Center of PEN, where she used her influence to champion the rights of persecuted writers in oppressed regions of the world, ruffling many feathers along the way.
Susan Sontag
Susan will be chatting about the life and legacy of Susan Sontag with Nancy Kates. Nancy is an American filmmaker who has produced extensive work on political activists and civil rights movements. Her latest documentary is entitled ‘Regarding Susan Sontag.’ This premiered earlier this year to much acclaim, being nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival, held in New York City.
Listen in to Susan and Nancy as they take a look at Susan Sontag’s impact on the world of literature and political activism. What does Nancy’s documentary unveil about the life of Susan Sontag? Did she disappoint Nancy in anyway? And why should her life story still resonate today?
Then, in part two, Susan will be joined by Jad Adams and Sonja Tiernan to discuss the development and impact of feminist movements during the 20th century.
Jad is an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of English in London University. He has recently published ‘Women and the Vote: A World History.’ This provides a nuanced and cultural take on the issues surrounding the disenfranchisement of women, providing examples from the far reaches of East Asia to the expanses of the west coast of America.
Emilia Pankhurst, leader of the British suffragette movement
Sonja lectures in history at Liverpool Hope University, having achieved her PHD at UCD in 2007. Her research mainly focuses on the issues surrounding gender and politics. She has written extensively on the life of Eva Gore-Booth, with her works including ‘Eva Gore-Booth: An Image of Such Politics.’
Eva was the younger sister of Countess Markievicz and perhaps history has given her comparatively little coverage at the expense of her sister. However, she too was a committed to the suffrage of women, achieving much in this area during her life, while perhaps lacking the flair for controversy that her elder sister revelled in.
Are women today living in an equal society? What role should men play within these advances? And how have the key feminist personalities and movements contributed to, or harmed, such progress? Join Susan, Jad and Sonja as they discuss these questions and more.
