Notes on "Camp"
by Susan Sontag 
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From one of the greatest prose stylists of any generation, the essay that inspired the theme of the 2019 Met Gala, Camp: Notes on Fashion. Many things in the world have not been named; and many things, even if they have been named, have never been described. One of these is the sensibility-unmistakably modern, a variant of sophistication but hardly identical with it-that goes by the cult name of "Camp." So begins Susan Sontag's seminal essay "Notes on 'Camp.' " Originally published in 1964 show more and included in her landmark debut essay collection Against Interpretation, Sontag's notes set out to define something that even the most well-informed could describe only as "I know it when I see it." At once grounded in a sweeping history (Louis XIV was pure Camp) and entirely provisional, Camp delights in low and high culture alike. Tiffany lamps, the androgynous beauty of Greta Garbo, King Kong (1933), and Mozart all embody the Camp sensibility for Sontag-an almost ineffable blend of artifice, extravagance, playfulness, and a deadly seriousness. At the time Sontag published her essay, Camp, as a subversion of sexual norms, had also become a private code of signification for queer communities. show lessTags
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Nothing groundbreaking here, but it's always useful to know the groundwork for areas of interest.
I don't wholly agree with Sontag's definitions of camp at every turn, but she articulates quite well the general sensibility of the mode. I think the notion of naivety/sincerity in particular is really useful and pointed.
I don't wholly agree with Sontag's definitions of camp at every turn, but she articulates quite well the general sensibility of the mode. I think the notion of naivety/sincerity in particular is really useful and pointed.
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113+ Works 21,451 Members
Susan Sontag was born in New York City on January 16, 1933. She received a B.A. from the University of Chicago and did graduate work in philosophy, literature and theology at Harvard University and Saint Anne's College, Oxford University. She was the author of 17 books including four novels, a collection of short stories, several plays, and eight show more works of nonfiction. Her novels are The Benefactor, Death Kit, The Volcano Lover, and In America, which won the 2000 National Book Award for fiction. On Photography received the 1978 National Book Critics Circle Award. Her stories and essays have appeared in numerous magazines including The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, and Art in America. She also wrote and directed four feature films and stage plays in the United States and Europe. She died from leukemia on December 28, 2004 at the age of 71. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Penguin Modern (29)
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- Canonical title
- Notes on "Camp"
- Original title
- Notes on "Camp"
- Original publication date
- 1996
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- Members
- 381
- Popularity
- 82,498
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.81)
- Languages
- English, French, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 2

























































