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Finding Aid for the Susan Sontag papers, ca. 1939-2004
612
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Title: Susan Sontag papers
Date (inclusive): ca. 1939-2004
Collection number: 612
Creator:
Sontag, Susan, 1933-2004.
Extent:
264 boxes (132 linear ft.)
67 oversize boxes
1 oversize map folder
Abstract: Susan Sontag (1933-2004) was an influential and controversial American writer, director, and political activist. She wrote
numerous essays, short stories, novels, and non-fiction books. She also wrote and directed films and plays in the United
States and abroad. She received honors and awards throughout her life and her works have been translated into over thirty
languages. The contents of the Susan Sontag Papers reflect her intelligence, energy, and the seamless integration of her
wide-ranging interests in her work and life. In addition to notes, research, and manuscript material related to her writing,
theatre, and film projects, the collection includes the following: personal and professional correspondence; journals; schoolwork;
teaching material; ephemera and correspondence related to her public appearances, institutional involvement, and political
activism; publicity and press; and highlights from her library.
Language: Finding aid is written in
English.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Open for research, with following exceptions: Boxes 136 and 137 of journals are restricted until 25 years after Susan Sontag's
death (December 28, 2029), though the journals may become available once they are published.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Susan Sontag, purchase, 2002 and 2005.
[Identification of item], Susan Sontag papers (Collection Number 612). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young
Research Library, UCLA.
Susan Sontag was an influential and controversial American writer, director, and political activist. She was born in New
York City on January 16, 1933, and was raised in Tucson and Los Angeles. In 1949, she graduated from North Hollywood High
School and began her undergraduate work at the University of California, Berkeley. After one term, she transferred to the
University of Chicago, where she graduated in 1951. She married Philip Rieff in 1950. Their son, David Rieff, was born in
1952. In 1957, she received a Master's degree in philosophy from Harvard (Radcliffe), and studied on a fellowship at St. Anne's
College, Oxford, and the University of Paris-Sorbonne until 1958. She divorced Philip Rieff the same year. In 1959, she
discontinued her doctoral work and moved to New York City with her son. Sontag worked for
Commentary Magazine and held positions as instructor and lecturer at City College of New York, Sarah Lawrence College, and Columbia University
until around 1966. During this time, she began writing film and literature reviews, essays, and stories for publication in
The Partisan Review and other prominent journals. Throughout her life, her short stories and numerous essays on art, literature, politics, and
culture appeared in several publications in the United States and abroad. Most of these works were collected into seven books:
Against Interpretation and Other Essays (1966),
Styles of Radical Will (1969),
I, Etcetera (1978),
Under the Sign of Saturn (1980),
A Susan Sontag Reader (1982),
Where the Stress Falls (2001), and
At the Same Time (2007). Sontag published four novels:
The Benefactor (1963),
Death Kit (1967),
The Volcano Lover (1992) and
In America (2000), which won the National Book Award. Her non-fiction books explored and challenged aspects of modern society:
On Photography (1977), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award,
Illness as Metaphor (1978), inspired by her own experience with breast cancer,
AIDS and Its Metaphors (1989), and
Regarding the Pain of Others (2003), on war photography. Sontag wrote and directed four films:
Duet for Cannibals (1969),
Brother Carl (1971),
Promised Lands (1974) and
Unguided Tour (1983). She directed several plays, including Samuel Beckett's
Waiting for Godot in Sarajevo in 1993; and she wrote several plays including
Alice in Bed (1993) and
Lady from the Sea (1999), productions of which have been staged across the United States and internationally. As a committed human rights
activist she traveled to Cuba, China, Vietnam, and Bosnia. She also served as president of the PEN American Center from 1987-1989.
Her works have been translated into over thirty languages. She received honors and awards throughout her life, including
the Jerusalem Prize (2001) and the Friedenspreis (2003) for her body of work. She died of cancer on December 28, 2004, and
is buried in Montparnasse cemetery in Paris.
The Susan Sontag papers range from ca. 1939-2004. The papers include the following: personal and professional correspondence;
childhood drawings; schoolwork; teaching material; journals; notes, research, manuscripts, and other material related to her
writing, theatre, and film projects; ephemera and correspondence related to her wide range of public appearances and institutional
involvement; reviews, interviews, biography, and publicity material; material related to her political activism (including
her work in Bosnia and with PEN); her subject clipping files; research and manuscript material of her former husband, Philip
Rieff; artwork and manuscripts by others; and highlights from her library.
Arranged in the following series:
- Correspondence
- Juvenalia
- School Material
- 1. Junior High School
- 2. High School
- 3. Undergraduate
- 4. Graduate
- Teaching Material
- Journals
- Works by Susan Sontag
- 1. Early Writing
- 2. Writings and Other Works
- 3. Unpublished and/or Unfinished Works
- 4. Declined Projects
- 5. Blurbs and Quotes
- Public Activity
- Political Activity
- Bosnia Involvement
- 1. Correspondence and General Material
- 2. Gluhic Family Material
- 3. News Articles and Clippings
- PEN Involvement
- Material about Susan Sontag
- 1. Articles and Clippings
- 2. Interviews
- 3. Biography and Bibliography
- 4. Unauthorized Biography
- 5. Professor Lee Poague Projects
- Subject Clipping Files
- Material Collected by Susan Sontag
- Philip Rieff Material
- Manuscripts by Others
- Artwork by Others
- 1. Joseph Cornell Artwork
- 2. Joseph Cornell Box
- 3. Keith Haring
- 4. Annie Leibovitz
- 5. David Levine
- 6. Nicole St�phane
- Selected Books from the Library of Susan Sontag
The Susan Sontag Papers came to UCLA in two installments. The first installment, received in 2002, was processed maintaining
the organization created by Susan Sontag as it was transferred to UCLA. The following was the organization and arrangement
of the first installment:
- Correspondence
- Bosnia-Correspondence
- Gluhic Family
- Joseph Cornell Box
- Manuscripts by Others
- PEN
- Public Appearances
- Town Hall Speech and Political Statements
- Trips and Juries
- Writings by Susan Sontag, subdivided into an alphabetical list by title and subject, essays from the 80s and 90s, unpublished and uncollected.
The second installment, received in 2005, was combined with the first installment, maintaining the organization and arrangement
of the 2002 installment as much as possible. Due to the nature of the second installment materials, though, some changes
were made to the existing organization and arrangement. The following is the first installment's organization and arrangement
with notes next to each series explaining how they were added to and/or changed:
- Correspondence (Material added, nearly doubling the series in size.)
- Bosnia-Correspondence (Material added. See series #3.)
- Gluhic Family (Material added. Combined with series #2. Reorganized into a single new series, Bosnia Involvement, with three subseries.)
- Joseph Cornell Box (Moved into new series, Artwork by Others, with six subseries, to include added art by Cornell and other artists.)
- Manuscripts by Others (Material added.)
- PEN (Material added which called for a complete reorganization of the series. Series renamed PEN Involvement.)
- Public Appearances (Material added. See series #9.)
- Town Hall Speech and Political Statements (Material added, including new political writings and political writings in series #10. Series renamed Political Activity to more generally describe the series' broad range of material.)
- Trips and Juries (Material added. Combined with series #7. Reorganized by year into a single new series, Public Activity.)
- Writings by Susan Sontag, subdivided into an alphabetical list by title and subject, essays from the 80s and 90s, unpublished and uncollected. (Material added, including more material for existing titles and material for new titles and early work. Series renamed Works by Susan Sontag to more accurately represent the range of her work, with five subseries. Political writings were moved to Political Activity series.)
In addition to the above changes, nine new series were created for the second installment of material that did not belong
in the existing series: Juvenalia, School Material, Teaching Material, Journals, Material about Susan Sontag, Subject Clipping
Files, Material Collected by Susan Sontag, Philip Rieff Material, Selected Books from the Library of Susan Sontag.
Finally, the number order of the series was changed from alphabetical order to a mixed order primarily determined by the significance
of the material.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Sontag, Susan, 1933-2004 --Archives.
Women intellectuals --United States --Archival resources.
Women authors, American --United States --Archival resources.
Items Removed from the Collection
Copies of items exceeding three, and sometimes two, have been removed. Nonessential items, such as folders or other enclosures
with redundant information or no information, have been removed.
Correspondence between Susan Sontag and Thomas C. Leonard. Gift of Thomas C. Leonard, UC Berkeley Professor and University
Librarian, 2008.
Books from the library of Susan Sontag (Collection 892). Available at the Department of Special Collections, UCLA Library.
SON Susan Sontag Library (Special Collections note searchable in the UCLA Library catalog to find records of a selection of
books from Susan Sontag's library, primarily works by Sontag in their various translations)
Lee Poague.
Susan Sontag: an Annotated Bibliography, 1948-1992 (New York: Garland, 2000). Circulating copy held by UCLA Young Research Library; non-circulating, research copy held by
UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections.
Philip Rieff papers at University of Pennsylvania (small faculty papers collection).