“It is felt that there is something morally wrong with the abstract of reality offered by photography; that one has no right to experience the suffering of others at a distance, denuded of its raw power; that we pay too high a human (or moral) price for those hitherto admired qualities of vision - the standing back from the aggressiveness of the world which frees us for observation and for elective attention.”

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.