Susan Sontag

Susan Sontag (1979)

Susan Sontag by Juan Bastos

Susan Sontag (born Susan Rosenblatt, January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer and political activist. Sontag was born in New York City to Jewish parents. She grew up in Tucson, Arizona and later in Los Angeles, California.

Early life

Sontag married writer Philip Rieff when she was 17. Sontag taught freshman English at the University of Connecticut for the 1952–53 academic year.

Career

Sontag's first book, The Benefactor, was published in 1966. Her first film Duett för kannibaler was released in 1969. In 2000 she won the National Book Award.

Personal life

She was openly bisexual. She married writer Philip Rieff (1922-2006) in 1950. Her only child is writer David Rieff (born 1952). The couple divorced in 1959. She was also partners with Cuban playwright María Irene Fornés.

Death

She died of leukemia in New York City. She is buried in Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris, France.

Susan Sontag Media

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  Photo portrait of Sontag, 1966

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  The cover of Against Interpretation (1966), which contains some of Sontag's best-known essays

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  The former Sarajevo newspaper building during the Siege of Sarajevo, when Sontag lived in the city