Spectator Books: who was Susan Sontag?

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4.4 • 785 Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2019

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sam's guest in this week’s books podcast is Benjamin Moser, author of an acclaimed new biography of one of America’s most celebrated (and controversial) intellectuals of the twentieth century: Sontag: Her Life.

Sam asked Benjamin how he sorted fact from myth, about tracking down the inventor of that haircut, and about Annie Leibovitz’s take on their stormy love affair. Why could someone as brave as Sontag never come out? Did she have a sense of humour? And what of her will last?

Spectator Books is a series of literary interviews and discussions on the latest releases in the world of publishing, from poetry through to physics. Presented by Sam Leith, The Spectator's Literary Editor. Hear past episodes of Spectator Books here.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before you start listening to this podcast, a reminder that we have a special subscription offer.
0:04.8	You can get 12 issues of The Spectator for £12, as well as a £20,000 Amazon voucher.
0:10.3	Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher if you'd like to get this offer.
0:20.4	Hello and welcome to The Spectator's Books podcast.
0:23.5	I'm Sam Leith, the literary editor for The Spectator.
0:25.8	This week we're going to be talking about one of the great Manhattan intellectuals of the second half of the 20th century.
0:31.2	I'm joined by Benjamin Moser, whose new book is Sontag Her Life.
0:37.5	Benjamin, welcome.
0:38.4	To start with, what was it that got you on to Sondag?
0:42.0	I mean, your previous book was about Clarice Lyspector.
0:45.0	Why did you think, right, Sontag's the one to do now?
0:47.4	Did you approach the estate?
0:48.5	Because it's authorized, isn't it?
0:49.8	Well, no.
0:50.6	I mean, it isn't.
0:51.9	I'm actually the authorized biographer but it's not the authorized
0:55.1	biography this is quite a distinction it's a quite it's quite a distinction and are you going to
1:00.4	write the authorized biography no yeah I think this is you know it's 700 pages I think I've
1:05.0	had my say on the subject now I was approached by the estate actually after the Clarissa
1:09.7	Spector book why this world came out it's now been 10 years, shockingly.
1:14.0	They asked me, because they thought that it was a good book about, as they said, a female intellectual in an international context.
1:22.4	So, in other words, someone who would not only be able to write about America, but also about her experiences, mainly in
	...

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