At the Same Time. Essays and Speeches

A collection of sixteen essays and speeches by Susan Sontag (1933–2004), prepared by her in the last years of her life, is retrospectively perceived as a creative testament. Reflections on beauty, photography, the artistic pursuits of Victor Serge, Leonid Tsypkin, Anna Banti, Halldor Laxness, the correspondence between Rilke and Pasternak and Akhmatova are organically linked to the perception of the tragedy of September 11 and the war in Iraq, leading to one of the largest and main themes of the American thinker and writer: the responsibilities and tasks of literature in the 20th century. A deep and constructive reading of the works of other authors, fidelity to high moral criteria, and multifaceted assessments of what is happening "everywhere and at the same time" allow this collection to be considered a masterpiece of Sontag's late creative period.