A reader asks of Sontag:
The evidence, as they say, might be a bit thin. Put aside all of her politics, interviews, "works" and "happenings" and pronouncements. Indeed, the only -- only! -- text is "Old Complaints Revisitied", contained in the collection I, Et Cetera .My question is intellectual and biographical in nature: was Sontag ever Catholic, or at least Christian? Maybe a passing fancy, a youthful daliance? Like Umberto Eco (who once threw out in passing, "I have settled my accounts with Aristotelian-Thomism.")The language in the story OCR is that of a Struggling Believer, not particularly happy with The Organization, but also reluctant to leave.Your thoughts? Your readers would know.
I had the same question. One of Ms. Sontag's obits mentioned a youthful infatuation with the writing of . . . Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Posted by: Cranky Lawyer | December 28, 2004 at 08:59 PM
It was just literary omnivorousness. I have never read of Sontag having flirted with Catholicism (looking among literary influences is pretty unreliable evidence). She was born Susan Rosenblatt, raised Jewish, and as far as I know, she never identified in any way with any religion other than Judaism.
Posted by: Victor Morton | December 28, 2004 at 10:00 PM
"as far as I know, she never identified in any way with any religion other than Judaism"
She may have been a cultural or tribal Jew but I don't think she "identified" with, practiced or espoused Judaism.
Posted by: Leroy | December 28, 2004 at 11:19 PM
Her religion was First Church of The Politically Correct Manhattanites. Proclaimed the white male as the source of the world's problems. Joined in the chorus of her fellow island intellectuals, including Norman Mailer, in claiming that America got what it deserved from the 9/11 attacks. One of the first of her class who figured out that if you say or write the craziest stuff, the New York Times reporters will write wonderful paragraphs about you. Too bad only 2.78 persons cared about her pronouncements.
Posted by: Gerard E. | December 29, 2004 at 06:59 AM
I forget the name of Eco's one scholarly book on Thomism. He states in the preface, however, that he undertook it as an act of devotion. By the time he got through with it, though, his faith was kaput. Still, he said, (and I paraphrase) it was a fun ride.
Of Ms. Sontage I can politely say nothing, she not being among us.
Posted by: BA | December 29, 2004 at 10:28 AM
Gerald E.: "in claiming that America got what it deserved from the 9/11 attacks". Didn't she say, rather, that the attack was the result of specific alliances and policies? She also pointed out, back in 2001, that most Americans were unaware that we were bombing Iraq already, and had been for years, on nearly a daily basis.
Posted by: Leroy | December 29, 2004 at 11:12 AM
Leroy:
Being "a cultural or tribal Jew" is still covered by my phrase "identified in any way." Or at least, I chose my words in a way that I thought would cover the reasonable inference that Sontag's religious identification was cultural or tribal rather than theological or ecclesial. But she was still a lapsed, nonpracticing Jew ... not a lapsed nonpracticing Catholic.
Posted by: Victor Morton | December 29, 2004 at 12:26 PM
I will give her credit for her exlplanation (later in life) of what a feminist is made no mention of abortion...just stuff about equal pay and opportunity. Considering the prevailing intellectual climate, I saw this as a breath of fresh air.
Posted by: Mark R | December 29, 2004 at 12:31 PM
I can't politely say anything bad about her, but I can point to someone who did:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/01/02/do0206.xml&site=15
Posted by: BA | January 01, 2005 at 11:20 PM