📚 24 - March
Since this is a "reading blog," I'll mention something I've noticed about the act of reading: I've gotten better at "reparative"—as opposed to "paranoid," in Sedgwick's sense—readings of nonfiction. False claims (or pithy/aphoristic balderdash, flimsy examples, rhetorically punchy nonsense) don't stop me in my tracks anymore. But now I'm able to look past it and ask—why would the author say this? Is there a weaker version of this claim that makes sense? What aspects of this worldview are worth engaging?
Never fear: I'm still as petty as ever with regard to fiction!
Also I don't say this to pick on Sontag—that's why this is is up top—it's something I've noticed for months now.
Susan Sontag (2003). Regarding the Pain of Others.
Sontag claims, basically—unless I'm mistaken because I'm writing this months later—that all images of war horror can be instrumentalized.
The most interesting part of this book was the historical overview of how photography has been used to document war.
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