Regarding the Pain of Others

I had never heard of Susan Sontag prior to my Survey of Photography class. We read the first chapter of "On Photography", it was good. I went ahead and bought the book myself. Later in the semester we read a short bit on "Regarding the Pain of Others", it was even better. All I can say is based on those 2, especially this one, Susan Sontag is amazing. I don't agree with everything she says, but I can't recall an instance that I felt she was misguided or confused. Her thoughts and ideas are well founded and presented. I've since learned of her reputation, and must say she earned it. It's a shame she didn't have more time to write, though there are many other pieces I've yet to read. The best thing I can say is that reading her allows for, in my experience, the chance to almost have a discussion with her. It's written in such a way that it isn't spoon fed to the reader. That's not to say it's a hard read, but it's open enough that your own thoughts can blend with hers.

Beautifully written and enlightening picture of the cruelty people afflict on one another without thinking or even realizing that the one that is receiving the pain is exactly like us, a human being, with a heart, a soul and a mind. Why can’t we as humankind learn to see beyond our differences and enjoy the beauty of living? Collectively we could do so much good if we lived and let live, as long as someone does no harm to others, why do we care what religion, sexual orientation, color or lack of, or whatever someone chooses to believe? Let weird be weirder and wacky be wackier as long as we live in peace with the earth and it’s resources. Sontag is a brilliant writer. I love her thoughts, I wish everyone would read her books.

Susan Sontag is known as a lover as well as a critique of photography. In Regarding the Pain of Others she focuses on the impact of horrible war-images - starting with paintings such as Goya's Disasters of the War (1810-1820) going up to the present, in which first photography and then film have taken over. She rightly and strongly criticises the old idea that 'pictures show the truth', and horrible pictures 'the truth of war', an idea especially popular in the Interwar Years (Ernst Friedrich, Virginia Woolf), but certainly anything but dead after 1945. Pictures have frames so they are framed (even when they are not staged or manipulated) and therefore can not show the truth in all its nuance, in all its effects. And besides: the photographer can have his or her intentions when painting or shooting the image, but that is not to say that this intention is indeed the consequence publication will have. A book that makes you think, and that is always a compliment. Leo van Bergen Author of: Before my Helpless Sight. Suffering, dying and military medicine on the Western Front 1914-1918 (Ashgate Publishing 2009)

At first sight you would think this book is on politics and on political matters. If you read carefully, you recognize, S. Sontag developed deep theory of human symbolic activity - how we, humans, produce pictures, what are pictures for and about, how we use them. At the same moment, the book is not too "philosophical", i.e., not close enough to reality. It is deeply human enterprise, full of emotions and compassion. Sometimes you will not be sure what you should like more - Sontag's deep human feelings or her precise interpretations of images and of current society. I would fully recommend the book to anybody - but you will love it much more if you knew a lot on political history and on art before. In any case, the book could be of great use for novice in art theory too.

I believe that this book gives good observations and questions of the nature and response to photography, art, and other depictions of war rather than any real answers. Is it voyeurism looking at the gruesome and tragic, or does it elicit some compassion and motivate protest? How are the dead of enemy, friendly combatants, and civilians shown in pictures? Is remembering things we personally have not experienced through photographs an ethical act? In modern times have we become inured to these images, accepted as the daily news diet? The examples she gives from paintings, photographs, and movies can be Googled pretty instantly as you read along. It goes beyond propaganda and romanticism, which were the first things I expected when I got this book. Honestly, I just felt the book was a good companion tool while seeing these visual examples, reading the quotes and observations Sontag gives, and seeing how I respond to them.

I taught the fourth essay in this book to my students last week to launch our visual rhetoric unit. The pictures Sontag describes are all available online through Google images and are helpful in understanding her arguments. Sontag is primarily dealing with still images, and although some mention of cinema is explored, a conversation on cinema would be more appropriate when reading through her other essays. Much of her argument in this text feels lifted from Jean Baudrillard's discussion of hyperreality. Although she does mention him, as well as Guy Debord's "Society of the Spectacle" once later in this collection of essays, it feels inadequate. Much of what she discusses could be read as theoretical applications of these thinkers, therefore her argument is not uniquely her own. The application she proposes, however, is worth reading the book. Finally, the fourth essay is included in many composition readers, but it is definitely necessary that the teacher understands the arguments she puts forth earlier in this book because the fourth essay is building on previous chapters. The students will walk away understanding her message, however, an explanation of the previous arguments would enhance their comprehension.

Great book, came in perfect condition!

Great book on the history of how photographs have been used when depicting war and tragedy. Sontag challenges the way society thinks about how these images are used and should be used. While I think some of her analogies and conclusions are flawed, overall I appreciate her point of view and believe that this book is a valuable asset to the student of art history, photographers in particular.

Loved this book. Susan Sontag was a pioneer in the field of telling us how the camera can at the scene of war be biased. Now flooded as we are with breaking news and social media in general we don't often think that the pictures/ film being captured on camera is the view of the camera operator rather than question the images. When we do it is often framed as 'fake news' . The events of the early 60's/70's captured on camera in Sontag's book tell us more than just the reporting of the events but a narrative that is often more about the moment itself . Sontag tells us how to look again and question everything even the truth.

What a book

Questo scritto della Sontag è uno di quelli che definirei essenziale per chiunque si interessi di fotografia sociale o anche semplicemente dell'uso delle immagini. Porta a riflessioni profonde sulla società contemporanea e sulla relazione del singolo o della massa con le immagini. Mi sono trovato ad acquistarlo in inglese dato che in Italia il libro è praticamente introvabile causa cessata pubblicazione da parte dell'editore purtroppo, risulta comunque facilmente leggibile pur la Sontag, in quanto filosofa, utilizzi a volte termini poco comuni, ma con l'aiuto di un dizionario si affronta tranquillamente!

In this essay, Sontag weaves together complex philosophical arguments into an accessible, exhilarating and deeply touching read. Sontag's prose masterfully dances around the question of how pictures of atrocities have been used historically and can be politically employed today, how viewers' ethical standpoint has changed over the years: sketching how the experience of 'regarding the pain of others' has evolved over the centuries until today. Even though Sontag makes a plurality of well-taken arguments, her essay necessarily lacks extensive inquiries into the historical, cultural and political contexts to which varied pictures have responded to and have fallen into. Since variation in those contexts changes the audience's interpretation of depicted atrocities, her essay can be taken as a call for more research in this direction.

This (new) book was delivered in very poor condition.