Benefactor

The Benefactor is Susan Sontag`s first book and first novel. It was originally published in 1963, and introduced a unique writer to the world. In the form of a memoir by a latter-day Candide named Hippolyte, The Benefactor leads us on a kind of psychic Grand Tour, in which Hippolyte`s violently imaginative dream life becomes indistinguishable from his surprising experiences in the `real world`. At the Same Time contains sixteen illuminating essays by Susan Sontag with a preface by David Rieff. The sixteen essays represent the last pieces written by Susan Sontag in the years before her death in 2004. Reflecting on literature, photography and art, post 9/11 America and political activism, these essays encompass the themes that dominated Sontag`s life and work, revealing why she remains one of the twentieth century`s preeminent writers and thinkers.