An interesting study of how tuberculosis and cancer have been seen and represented in literature and beyond, throughout time. Of course, now in 2021, we are in a new, unprecedented scenario: the Covid-19 pandemic and its political implications, mask or not, vaccine or not and which one. What would Sontag have said about all of this, had she been alive?

Loooove. So interesting I love tuberculosis. I wish I had tuberculosis. I totally would have if I was born like 150-200 years ago …

Truly a book for our times. One wonders how she would have approached covid-19 as metaphor? The Trump era as disease?

A fascinating monograph exploring how serious illnesses, especially tuberculosis and cancer, have been viewed in the West throughout history to the present day and what these illnesses have meant for writers. Sontag also looks at how illness, from plague to cancer, have been used as metaphors in society and politics. Written in 1978, it predated AIDS which she tackled in her essay AIDS and its Metaphors in 1989 - before she was herself killed by cancer.

First book read in 2014! Susan is able to tell the story of authors and other key historical figures, using Tuberculosis and Cancer as metaphors in speech and writing. It's a quick read, and a little dates; the most current historical event she references is Vietnam/Watergate. Definitely worth a read, and easily readable on a lazy weekend.

I read this the summer after my senior year of high school. I only gave it an 8/10 rating at the time, but it has stuck with me all these years, so adult me is giving it 5 stars on GoodReads.

I read this when it was first published and I was in my mid-twenties. A lot of what she said about cancer & illness & health really resonated with me; my mother died of cancer when I was 11 and I’d known other people who had also died of cancer. But, society has changed quite a bit since then, in a positive way, so I’m not sure how much the material in here is still applicable. But, at the time, it seemed powerful and insightful.