Susan Sontag on literature as freedom:
To have access to literature, world literature, was to escape the prison of national vanity, of philistinism, of compulsory provincialism, of inane schooling, of imperfect destinies and bad luck. Literature was the passport to enter a larger life, that is, the zone of freedom.
Literature was freedom. Especially in a time in which the values of reading and inwardness are so strenuously challenged, literature is freedom.
From Susan Sontag, "Literature Is Freedom" in At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches (2007).
3 comments:
Interesting quote... I'm new to your blog, but sounds like that would make an interesting read. :)
Sontag is correct. Literature--and a good education--are essential to freedom. Especially for women.
Hi- nice to find your blog. My own knowledge of world literature is very sketchy, if not altogether inadequate, but I can still sort of see what she means: literature helps you imagine other ways to live; it helps you go beyond yourself.
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