“It is a view of suffering, of the pain of others, that is rooted in religious thinking, which links pain to sacrifice, sacrifice to exaltation - a view that could not be more alien to a modern sensibility, which regards suffering as something that is a mistake or an accident or a crime. Something to be fixed. Something to be refused. Something that makes one feel powerless.”

American writer and critic

Susan Sontag was an American writer and critic. She worked mainly in essays, and also wrote novels. Her first major work was the essay "Notes on 'Camp'" in 1964. She is best known for critical books such as Against Interpretation, On Photography, Illness as Metaphor, and Regarding the Pain of Others, as well as the short story "The Way We Live Now" and the novels The Volcano Lover and In America. Her work often explored culture, images, and the experience of illness and suffering.